NICMOS uncovers dust layers to show inner region of dusty nebula (NICMOS image)

Esahubble_heic0207c_1024

esahubble_heic0207c June 5th, 2002

Credit: NASA, ESA, the NICMOS Group (STScI, ESA) and the NICMOS Science Team (Univ. of Arizona)

The revived Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) aboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has penetrated dust layers in a star-forming cloud to uncover a dense, craggy edifice of dust and gas. This NICMOS image shows the Cone Nebula (NGC 2264), so named because, in ground-based images, it has a conical shape. NICMOS enables the Hubble telescope to see near-infrared wavelengths of light, so that it can penetrate the dust that obscures the nebula's inner regions. However, the Cone is so dense even the near-infrared 'eyes' of NICMOS cannot penetrate all the way through it. The human eye cannot see infrared light so colours have been assigned to correspond to near-infrared wavelengths. The blue light represents shorter near-infrared wavelengths and the red light corresponds to longer wavelengths. The NICMOS colour composite image was made by combining photographs taken through J-band, H-band, and Paschen-alpha filters. The NICMOS images were taken on 11 May 2002.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic0207c/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Cone Nebula NGC 2264
Subject - Milky Way
Nebula > Appearance > Emission > H II Region
Esahubble_heic0207c_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 6h 41m 12.3s
DEC = 9° 26’ 21.0”
Orientation
North is 30.5° CCW
Field of View
0.8 x 0.8 arcminutes
Constellation
Monoceros

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue Hubble (NICMOS) Infrared (J) 1.1 µm
Green Hubble (NICMOS) Infrared (H) 1.6 µm
Red Hubble (ACS) Infrared (Pa-alpha) 1.9 µm
Spectrum_base
Blue
Green
Red
Esahubble_heic0207c_1280
×
ID
heic0207c
Subject Category
B.4.2.1.1  
Subject Name
Cone Nebula, NGC 2264
Credits
NASA, ESA, the NICMOS Group (STScI, ESA) and the NICMOS Science Team (Univ. of Arizona)
Release Date
2002-06-05T15:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic0207c/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Distance in light years from: http://iopscience.iop.org/1538-3881/138/3/963
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
NICMOS, NICMOS, ACS
Color Assignment
Blue, Green, Red
Band
Infrared, Infrared, Infrared
Bandpass
J, H, Pa-alpha
Central Wavelength
1100, 1600, 1870
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
100.301316967, 9.4391636787
Reference Dimension
1116.0, 1236.0
Reference Pixel
559.0, 619.0
Scale
-1.12247366084e-05, 1.12247366084e-05
Rotation
30.520000000000007
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
ESA/Hubble
URL
http://www.spacetelescope.org/
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
heic0207c
Metadata Date
2003-12-09T17:08:50+01:00
Metadata Version
1.1
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×

There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

Providers | Sign In