NGC 1579: The Trifid of the North

Esahubble_potw1322a_1024

esahubble_potw1322a June 3rd, 2013

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASAAcknowledgement: Bruno Conti

Unlike the venomous fictional plants that share its name, the Trifid of the North, otherwise known as the Northern Trifid or NGC 1579, poses no threat to your vision. The nebulas moniker is inspired by the better-known Messier 20, the Trifid Nebula, which lies very much further south in the sky and displays strikingly similar swirling clouds of gas and dust. The Trifid of the North is a large, dusty region that is currently forming new stars. These stars are very hot and therefore appear to be very blue. During their short lives they radiate strongly into the gas surrounding them, causing it to glow brightly. Many regions like the Trifid of the North named H II regions are clumpy and strangely shaped due to the powerful winds emanating from the stars within them. H II regions also have relatively short lives, furiously forming baby stars until the immense winds from these bodies blow the gas and dust away, leaving just stars behind. The image above, captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows the bright body of the nebula, with dark dust lanes snaking across the frame. The Trifid of the North glows strongly due to the many stars within it, like young binary EM* LkHA 101. Visible to the bottom right of the image, this binary is thought to be surrounded by a hundred or so fainter and less massive stars, making up a recently formed cluster. It lies behind a cloud of dust so thick that it is almost invisible to astronomers at optical wavelengths. Infrared imaging has now penetrated this dusty veil and is uncovering the secrets of this binary star, which is about five thousand times brighter than our own Sun. A version of this image by Bruno Conti was entered into the Hubbles Hidden Treasures competition.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1322a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
EM* LkHA 101 NGC 1579
Subject - Milky Way
Nebula > Type > Star Formation
Esahubble_potw1322a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 4h 30m 18.4s
DEC = 35° 16’ 46.6”
Orientation
North is 25.0° CW
Field of View
2.5 x 2.5 arcminutes
Constellation
Perseus

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Orange Hubble (WFPC2) Infrared (I) 814.0 nm
Cyan Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (V) 606.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Orange
Cyan
Esahubble_potw1322a_1280
×
ID
potw1322a
Subject Category
B.4.1.2  
Subject Name
EM* LkHA 101, NGC 1579
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASAAcknowledgement: Bruno Conti
Release Date
2013-06-03T10:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1322a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
WFPC2, WFPC2
Color Assignment
Orange, Cyan
Band
Infrared, Optical
Bandpass
I, V
Central Wavelength
814, 606
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
67.5767625476, 35.2796240916
Reference Dimension
1482.0, 1500.0
Reference Pixel
741.0, 750.0
Scale
-2.77451089262e-05, 2.77451089262e-05
Rotation
-24.980000000000029
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
potw1322a
Metadata Date
2012-12-21T17:29:38+01:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×

There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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