The Running Man Nebula
| Click on the image for a larger image of this nebula |
The Running Man Nebula is actually made up of three blueish reflection nebula, NGC 1973, 1975 and
1977, which are separated by darker areas of dust (see map below). This nebula is often overlooked or
is part of an image of the much larger and brighter Orion Nebula (M42) which borders the Running Man
off the bottom edge of this image. For an excellent image of both nebula, see:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090826.html.
The Running Man nebula is an interesting combination of three types of nebula.... reflection (blue),
emission (red) and dark (brown to black) nebula. Reflection nebula are due to starlight from hot, bluish,
stars which is reflected off interstellar dust while the emission nebula are due to reddish hydrogen alpha
light emitted from irradiated hydrogen gas in the area. Dark nebula are thought to be due to obscuring
dust which can be seen on the bottom edge of this image. The Running Man, as well as M42, are part
of a huge molecular cloud located near the "sword" of the constellation Orion. It is about 1500 light
years away.
This image is an LRBG image composed of 4 grayscale images taken with different filters (luminescence
50 x 40 sec; RGB 10 x 60 sec). The telescope/camera used was a Celestron 9.25 at f/5 with an
ST10XME camera guided with AO8 adaptive optics.
1977, which are separated by darker areas of dust (see map below). This nebula is often overlooked or
is part of an image of the much larger and brighter Orion Nebula (M42) which borders the Running Man
off the bottom edge of this image. For an excellent image of both nebula, see:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090826.html.
The Running Man nebula is an interesting combination of three types of nebula.... reflection (blue),
emission (red) and dark (brown to black) nebula. Reflection nebula are due to starlight from hot, bluish,
stars which is reflected off interstellar dust while the emission nebula are due to reddish hydrogen alpha
light emitted from irradiated hydrogen gas in the area. Dark nebula are thought to be due to obscuring
dust which can be seen on the bottom edge of this image. The Running Man, as well as M42, are part
of a huge molecular cloud located near the "sword" of the constellation Orion. It is about 1500 light
years away.
This image is an LRBG image composed of 4 grayscale images taken with different filters (luminescence
50 x 40 sec; RGB 10 x 60 sec). The telescope/camera used was a Celestron 9.25 at f/5 with an
ST10XME camera guided with AO8 adaptive optics.
