APOD: Massive Stars in NGC 6357 (2016 Feb 05)

Comments and questions about the APOD on the main view screen.
Post Reply
User avatar
APOD Robot
Otto Posterman
Posts: 5345
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:27 am
Contact:

APOD: Massive Stars in NGC 6357 (2016 Feb 05)

Post by APOD Robot » Fri Feb 05, 2016 5:07 am

Image Massive Stars in NGC 6357

Explanation: Massive stars lie within NGC 6357, an expansive emission nebula complex some 6,500 light-years away toward the tail of the constellation Scorpius. In fact, positioned near center in this ground-based close-up of NGC 6357, star cluster Pismis 24 includes some of the most massive stars known in the galaxy, stars with nearly 100 times the mass of the Sun. The nebula's bright central region also contains dusty pillars of molecular gas, likely hiding massive protostars from the prying eyes of optical instruments. Intricate shapes in the nebula are carved as interstellar winds and energetic radiation from the young and newly forming massive stars clear out the natal gas and dust and power the nebular glow. Enhancing the nebula's cavernous appearance, narrowband image data was included in this composite color image in a Hubble palette scheme. Emission from sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms is shown in red green and blue hues. The alluring telescopic view spans about 50 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 6357.

<< Previous APOD This Day in APOD Next APOD >>
[/b]

User avatar
Beyond
500 Gigaderps
Posts: 6889
Joined: Tue Aug 04, 2009 11:09 am
Location: BEYONDER LAND

Re: APOD: Massive Stars in NGC 6357 (2016 Feb 05)

Post by Beyond » Fri Feb 05, 2016 5:21 am

It looks like a very good painting, to me.
To find the Truth, you must go Beyond.

Boomer12k
:---[===] *
Posts: 2691
Joined: Sun Apr 22, 2007 12:07 am

Re: APOD: Massive Stars in NGC 6357 (2016 Feb 05)

Post by Boomer12k » Fri Feb 05, 2016 7:08 am

OK....a massive Mickey Mouse BEAR....looking at a glowing frog...with a weird alien DOCTOR looking on....surrounded by SHENRON of Dragon Ball Z...his head is in the middle at the top, looking down at the bear.... :lol2:

And many other things in this GREAT IMAGE...

:---[===] *

heehaw

Re: APOD: Massive Stars in NGC 6357 (2016 Feb 05)

Post by heehaw » Fri Feb 05, 2016 10:30 am

"There's a hole in the bottom of the sea
There's a hole in the bottom of the sea
There's a hole
There's a hole
There's a hole in the bottom of the sea
....and it seems that there is also a hole in the top of the sky!

NCTom

Re: APOD: Massive Stars in NGC 6357 (2016 Feb 05)

Post by NCTom » Fri Feb 05, 2016 3:46 pm

How will the mass of these new giants affect their lifespan and the type of ending we might expect?

User avatar
Chris Peterson
Abominable Snowman
Posts: 18113
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:13 pm
Location: Guffey, Colorado, USA
Contact:

Re: APOD: Massive Stars in NGC 6357 (2016 Feb 05)

Post by Chris Peterson » Fri Feb 05, 2016 3:55 pm

NCTom wrote:How will the mass of these new giants affect their lifespan and the type of ending we might expect?
They will only produce energy for a few million years, before exploding in supernovas, which will produce gas and dust to seed future nebulas.
Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
https://www.cloudbait.com

Bobarino

Re: APOD: Massive Stars in NGC 6357 (2016 Feb 05)

Post by Bobarino » Fri Feb 05, 2016 6:03 pm

1. The black pillar just to right of center looks a little like Godzilla. Just saying.

2. Almost all images I've seen have "enhanced" or "added" color. Are there any true color images of these objects, or are they all taken in B&W and color added later?

Thanks

RPeto@ctsu.ox.ac.uk

Re: APOD: Massive Stars in NGC 6357 (2016 Feb 05)

Post by RPeto@ctsu.ox.ac.uk » Fri Feb 05, 2016 6:08 pm

The image is mostly red, which presumably must represent hydrogen rather than the much less common sulfur. Yet, the legend says: "Emission from sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms is shown in red, green, and blue hues." Is this a mistake? Should it instead say "hydrogen, sulfur and oxygen"??

User avatar
Chris Peterson
Abominable Snowman
Posts: 18113
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:13 pm
Location: Guffey, Colorado, USA
Contact:

Re: APOD: Massive Stars in NGC 6357 (2016 Feb 05)

Post by Chris Peterson » Fri Feb 05, 2016 6:21 pm

RPeto@ctsu.ox.ac.uk wrote:The image is mostly red, which presumably must represent hydrogen rather than the much less common sulfur. Yet, the legend says: "Emission from sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms is shown in red, green, and blue hues." Is this a mistake? Should it instead say "hydrogen, sulfur and oxygen"??
No mistake. This image utilizes the common Hubble palette, which maps SII to red, Ha (and usually, NII) to green, and OIII to blue.
Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
https://www.cloudbait.com

User avatar
Chris Peterson
Abominable Snowman
Posts: 18113
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:13 pm
Location: Guffey, Colorado, USA
Contact:

Re: APOD: Massive Stars in NGC 6357 (2016 Feb 05)

Post by Chris Peterson » Fri Feb 05, 2016 6:24 pm

Bobarino wrote:1. The black pillar just to right of center looks a little like Godzilla. Just saying.

2. Almost all images I've seen have "enhanced" or "added" color. Are there any true color images of these objects, or are they all taken in B&W and color added later?
If you just follow the link in the caption to the author page you'll find an RGB version that approximates "true" color.

All images (even from your consumer camera) are made in B&W and then the color is generated from separate filtered channels.
Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
https://www.cloudbait.com

starsurfer
Stellar Cartographer
Posts: 5306
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2012 7:25 pm

Re: APOD: Massive Stars in NGC 6357 (2016 Feb 05)

Post by starsurfer » Fri Feb 05, 2016 6:25 pm

Bobarino wrote:1. The black pillar just to right of center looks a little like Godzilla. Just saying.

2. Almost all images I've seen have "enhanced" or "added" color. Are there any true color images of these objects, or are they all taken in B&W and color added later?

Thanks
This image would have made an excellent mouseover with the true colour version, which can be found here.

User avatar
Chris Peterson
Abominable Snowman
Posts: 18113
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:13 pm
Location: Guffey, Colorado, USA
Contact:

Re: APOD: Massive Stars in NGC 6357 (2016 Feb 05)

Post by Chris Peterson » Fri Feb 05, 2016 6:55 pm

starsurfer wrote:This image would have made an excellent mouseover with the true colour version, which can be found here.
Click to view full size image 1 or image 2
(I posted these for the moment on my own site... I don't mean to step on the copyright of the authors. Is there a way to do an imghover with uploaded images, rather than linked ones?)
Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
https://www.cloudbait.com

User avatar
geckzilla
Ocular Digitator
Posts: 9180
Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2007 12:42 pm
Location: Modesto, CA
Contact:

Re: APOD: Massive Stars in NGC 6357 (2016 Feb 05)

Post by geckzilla » Fri Feb 05, 2016 10:32 pm

Chris Peterson wrote:
starsurfer wrote:This image would have made an excellent mouseover with the true colour version, which can be found here.
Click to view full size image 1 or image 2
(I posted these for the moment on my own site... I don't mean to step on the copyright of the authors. Is there a way to do an imghover with uploaded images, rather than linked ones?)
Yes, you just use the links to the uploaded images and then encase the uploaded images within a "hide" tag after placing them inline. Sometimes I'll put them on my own site too, though. I don't think most people would be bothered by that as long as it's only used in the context of discussing an APOD. What really bothers content creators is when their content gets automatically scraped by bots and then adverts are placed all around them and they feel someone is profiting from their work.
Just call me "geck" because "zilla" is like a last name.

User avatar
MarkBour
Subtle Signal
Posts: 1377
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2013 2:44 pm
Location: Illinois, USA

Re: APOD: Massive Stars in NGC 6357 (2016 Feb 05)

Post by MarkBour » Sat Feb 06, 2016 1:52 am

Hmmm ... I can't wait for Art to read that last sentence, to see what he comes up with :-)
Mark Goldfain

User avatar
neufer
Vacationer at Tralfamadore
Posts: 18805
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:57 pm
Location: Alexandria, Virginia

Re: APOD: Massive Stars in NGC 6357 (2016 Feb 05)

Post by neufer » Sat Feb 06, 2016 2:22 am

MarkBour wrote:
Hmmm ... I can't wait for Art to read that last sentence, to see what he comes up with :-)
Hmmm ... Which last sentence :?:
Art Neuendorffer

User avatar
MarkBour
Subtle Signal
Posts: 1377
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2013 2:44 pm
Location: Illinois, USA

Re: APOD: Massive Stars in NGC 6357 (2016 Feb 05)

Post by MarkBour » Sat Feb 06, 2016 9:44 pm

neufer wrote:
MarkBour wrote: Hmmm ... I can't wait for Art to read that last sentence, to see what he comes up with :-)
Hmmm ... Which last sentence :?:
geckzilla wrote:... What really bothers content creators is when their content gets automatically scraped by bots and then adverts are placed all around them and they feel someone is profiting from their work.
... which I figured you would take as a challenge. :-)

My take on it would be :
Come see the NGC 6357 show! We've got the biggest stars in the galaxy!
Advert.gif
Mark Goldfain

User avatar
neufer
Vacationer at Tralfamadore
Posts: 18805
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:57 pm
Location: Alexandria, Virginia

Re: APOD: Massive Stars in NGC 6357 (2016 Feb 05)

Post by neufer » Sun Feb 07, 2016 4:28 am

MarkBour wrote:
neufer wrote:
MarkBour wrote: Hmmm ... I can't wait for Art to read that last sentence, to see what he comes up with :-)
Hmmm ... Which last sentence :?:
geckzilla wrote:
... What really bothers content creators is when their content gets automatically scraped by bots and then adverts are placed all around them and they feel someone is profiting from their work.
  • Sonnet 119
So I return rebuked to my content
And gain by ill thrice more than I have spent.
Art Neuendorffer

User avatar
Ann
4725 Å
Posts: 13374
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 5:33 am

Re: APOD: Massive Stars in NGC 6357 (2016 Feb 05)

Post by Ann » Sun Feb 07, 2016 5:19 am

For a mapped color image, I find this one very intriguing and even rather beautiful. I'm partcularly struck by the bright, light blue area "below" the main star cluster and the bright yellow "chrysalis" surrounding a star that is still wrapped in its native cloud. The light blue area must be extremely rich in oxygen, and moderately rich in hydrogen and sulphur too? Otherwise why is the area light blue rather than more royal blue?

The yellow area must be extremely rich in both hydrogen and sulphur, but it must lack oxygen, I think. OIII emission is only found in rarefied conditions, and the yellow area is presumably full of cosmic gunk.

All in all, this is a very fascinating image.

Ann
Color Commentator

User avatar
MarkBour
Subtle Signal
Posts: 1377
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2013 2:44 pm
Location: Illinois, USA

Re: APOD: Massive Stars in NGC 6357 (2016 Feb 05)

Post by MarkBour » Mon Feb 08, 2016 3:29 am

neufer wrote:
  • Sonnet 119
So I return rebuked to my content
And gain by ill thrice more than I have spent.
“most expensive originals have cheap imitations.”
― Elfriede Jelinek, The Piano Teacher
Mark Goldfain

Post Reply