NGC 7129
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NGC 7129 is a
The nebula is rosebud-shaped; the young stars have blown a large, oddly shaped bubble in the molecular cloud that once surrounded them at their birth. The rosy pink color comes from glowing dust grains on the surface of the bubble being heated by the intense light from the young stars within. The ultra-violet and visible light produced by the young stars is absorbed by the surrounding dust grains. They are heated by this process and release the energy at longer infrared wavelengths as photographed by the Spitzer Space Telescope. The reddish colors in the false-colour infrared image suggest the distribution of hydrocarbon rich molecular material.[citation needed]
The much cooler molecular cloud outside the bubble is mostly invisible to Spitzer. However, three very young stars near the center of the nebula are sending jets of supersonic gas into the cloud. The collision of these jets heats carbon monoxide molecules in the nebula. This produces the complex nebulosity that appears like a stem of a rosebud.[citation needed]
Gallery
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NGC 7129 as imaged through a 24-inch telescope onMt. Lemmon
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Astro image of NGC7129 imaged with a 12.5 inch CDK from Talent, OR
References
- ^ distance × sin( diameter_angle / 2 ) = 3 ly. radius
- ^ "APOD: 2007 September 13 - NGC 7129 and NGC 7142".
External links
- http://www.noao.edu/outreach/aop/observers/n7129.html Archived 2012-03-15 at the Wayback Machine
- "Valentine's Day" 2004 Spitzer Space Telescope press release: the "Cosmic Rose"
- image from the Spitzer Space Telescope
- printable lithograph from the Spitzer Space Telescope Archived 2007-02-04 at the Wayback Machine