Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2021 April 12

                        Alnitak and the Flame Nebula
                     Image Credit & Copyright: Team ARO

   Explanation: What lights up the Flame Nebula? Fifteen hundred light
   years away towards the constellation of Orion lies a nebula which, from
   its glow and dark dust lanes, appears, on the left, like a billowing
   fire. But fire, the rapid acquisition of oxygen, is not what makes this
   Flame glow. Rather the bright star Alnitak, the easternmost star in the
   Belt of Orion visible on the far left, shines energetic light into the
   Flame that knocks electrons away from the great clouds of hydrogen gas
   that reside there. Much of the glow results when the electrons and
   ionized hydrogen recombine. The featured picture of the Flame Nebula
   (NGC 2024) was taken across three visible color bands with detail added
   by a long duration exposure taken in light emitted only by hydrogen.
   The Flame Nebula is part of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, a
   star-forming region that includes the famous Horsehead Nebula.

                   Tomorrow's picture: a suprising wobble
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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