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The Eagle Nebula
in Elemental Colors |
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About This Photograph
The Eagle Nebula is a large, relatively nearby star-forming region in our Milky Way galaxy. It lies at a distance of about 7,000 light years from Earth. Hot, young stars recently formed by the collapse of gas in the nebula now shine, emitting copious amounts of ultraviolet radiation. This excites atoms within the gas clouds, which in turn emit their own light at very specific wavelengths (colors). Color in this image has been used to emphasize the distribution of energized atoms of three elements within the clouds. Red represents light emitted by ionized Sulphur atoms. Similarly, green represents excited Hydrogen atoms, and blue the light of ionized Oxygen.
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Technical Details |
| Optics: | 14" f/10 RCOS Ritchey-Chrétien Cassegrain at f/7.4,Astro-Physics 0.75x Focal Reducer. | | Camera: | SBIG ST-10XME, CFW8. | | Mount: | Takahashi NJP Temma 2. | | Filters: | Custom Scientific 3nm Sulpur-II, H-alpha, Oxygen-III. | | Dates/Times: | 29 May 2003, and 2, 8 June 2003. | | Location: | my backyard observatory in Austin, Texas. | | Exposure Details: | (Ha):SII:Ha:OIII = 220:180:220:260 minutes (20-minute sub-exposures). | |
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Publication Data for this Photograph
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