APOD: A Wide Field Image of the Galactic... (2012 Jan 06)

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APOD: A Wide Field Image of the Galactic... (2012 Jan 06)

Post by APOD Robot » Fri Jan 06, 2012 5:05 am

Image A Wide Field Image of the Galactic Center

Explanation: From Sagittarius to Scorpius, the central Milky Way is a truly beautiful part of planet Earth's night sky. The gorgeous region is captured in this wide field image spanning about 30 degrees. The impressive cosmic vista, taken in 2010, shows off intricate dust lanes, bright nebulae, and star clusters scattered through our galaxy's rich central starfields. Starting on the left, look for the Lagoon and Trifid nebulae, the Cat's Paw, while on the right lies the Pipe dark nebula, and the colorful clouds of Rho Ophiuchi and Antares (right). The actual center of our Galaxy lies about 26,000 light years away and can be found here.

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Ann
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Re: APOD: A Wide Field Image of the Galactic... (2012 Jan 06

Post by Ann » Fri Jan 06, 2012 8:35 am

I'll try to name a few objects here, starting at upper left.

At top left you have a pink cloud which is the Eagle Nebula, M16. Below the Eagle Nebula is the Omega Nebula, M17 and the nebula complex centered around NGC 6530

Below the OMega Nebula you can see a large spread-out brightening in the band of the Milky Way, the so-called the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud or M24. In the link I provided here, you can see M24 flanked by the Omega Nebula at top left and a small pink cloud next to two even smaller blue clouds, at bottom. Inside M24, you can see a small black round cloud, Barnard 92, next to another, not quite so black cloud, Barnard 93.

To the right of M24, apparently "sitting on an extension of the dark dust lane of the Milky Way", is the open cluster M23.

Below M24 you can see the the large nebula complex made up of the Lagoon Nebula, the Trifid Nebula and open star cluster M21 to the upper left of it, and a string of nebulae to the left of the Lagoon nebula.

Below the Lagoon Nebula, you can see the brightest part of the Milky Way, sometimes called the (large)Sagittarius Star Cloud or Baade's Window. On teh opposite side of Baade's Window you can see the Pipe Nebula.

On the far right in this image you can see an incredibly colorful star and nebula complex. The star at bottom, which is surrounded by a large pink nebula, is Tau Scorpii, a hot blue star. The bright yellow star surrounded by a yellow reflection nebula is supergiant star Antares. The somewhat grainy "star" immediately to the right of Antares is a globular cluster, M4. The star to the upper right of M4, surrounded by a pink nebula with a bit of blue in it, is Sigma Scorpii. The large blue reflection nebula above Antares and Sigma Scorpii is Rho Ophiuchi.

At far right in the image you have the "claws" of the Scorpion. Note the faint pink emission nebulosity around Delta Scorpii, which had an outburst a few years ago. Also note the blue reflection nebulosity around the topmost of the stars of the claws, Jabbah or Nu Scorpii, surrounded by the Blue Horse nebula.

You can see two very red nebulae near the bottom of the image. They are the Cat's Paw and the Bear Claw Nebulae.

To the upper left of the Cat's Paw and the Bear Claw, you can see the Butterfly Cluster, M6, in the dark dust lane of the Milky Way. To the lower left of M6, and somewhat hard to spot because we see it across a very starry background, is M7.

Today's APOD is lovely!

Ann
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saturn2

Re: APOD: A Wide Field Image of the Galactic... (2012 Jan 06

Post by saturn2 » Fri Jan 06, 2012 12:02 pm

Distance from Earth to Galactic Center of Milñky Way is 26,000 light-years.
The Galactic Center has a compact structure and materials of different colors.

saturn2

Re: APOD: A Wide Field Image of the Galactic... (2012 Jan 06

Post by saturn2 » Fri Jan 06, 2012 12:05 pm

Error Milky Way

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Re: APOD: A Wide Field Image of the Galactic... (2012 Jan 06

Post by orin stepanek » Fri Jan 06, 2012 1:14 pm

I did like the zoom movie; and the annotated link really helps! :D http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100831.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhHUNvEKUY8
Orin

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Re: APOD: A Wide Field Image of the Galactic... (2012 Jan 06

Post by Psnarf » Fri Jan 06, 2012 3:17 pm

Methinks you have discovered a cure for excessive hubris.

BillMcQuillan

Re: APOD: A Wide Field Image of the Galactic... (2012 Jan 06

Post by BillMcQuillan » Fri Jan 06, 2012 5:15 pm

There seems to be a typo in the link to the previous APOD "http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120115.html" should be "http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120105.html"

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Re: APOD: A Wide Field Image of the Galactic... (2012 Jan 06

Post by owlice » Fri Jan 06, 2012 5:30 pm

Thanks; I'll let TPTB know.
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yucatan

Re: APOD: A Wide Field Image of the Galactic... (2012 Jan 06

Post by yucatan » Fri Jan 06, 2012 6:49 pm

Does anyone know if any IR/Xray studies have been done on the "knot" of dust right at the head of the dark river? (just up and right of Rho Ophiuchus). It really looks like something moving through the dust causing a "wake".
Mr Jennings high res photos show it better.
http://cosmicphotos.com/gallery/image.p ... ld_resol=3

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Re: APOD: A Wide Field Image of the Galactic... (2012 Jan 06

Post by devany » Fri Jan 06, 2012 8:31 pm

Hi guys

The link to the previous day is broken on todays (Wide Field... Galactic Centre) picture.

The link is to ap120115.html - yesterdays Ringside with Titan and Dione is ap120105.html

Thought you'd like to know.

Regards

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Re: APOD: A Wide Field Image of the Galactic... (2012 Jan 06

Post by TNT » Fri Jan 06, 2012 11:48 pm

About half a degree or so northwest of Antares is NGC 6144, which can only be viewed with a fairly large telescope.
The following statement is true.
The above statement is false.

Byork

Re: APOD: A Wide Field Image of the Galactic... (2012 Jan 06

Post by Byork » Sat Jan 07, 2012 11:34 am

the band of dust clouds extending from antares and rho ophiucus to the galactic plane suggests something about the motion of this stellar group relative to the galaxy

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Re: APOD: A Wide Field Image of the Galactic... (2012 Jan 06

Post by Sergio » Sun Jan 08, 2012 4:32 pm

Hello all

Another fantastic image of Ivan. IMHO one of the greatest astrophotographers around.
Very useful to study and planning several object to grab with longer focal length scopes.

Cheers
Sergio

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Re: APOD: A Wide Field Image of the Galactic... (2012 Jan 06

Post by Ann » Sun Jan 08, 2012 4:58 pm

Some of the links that I posted previously don't work at all. Let me try again, then:

Barnard 92 and Barnard 93 in M24 are two dark nebulae in the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud. Barnard 92 is bigger and blacker than Barnard 93.

Messier 23 is an open cluster in Sagittarius.

This is the famous Lagoon Nebula.

To the upper left of the Trifid Nebula is star cluster M 21.

To the left of the Lagoon Nebula is a string of colorful nebulae, among them NGC 6559.

I hope these links are going to work now!

Ann
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