APOD: NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus (2021 Nov 11)

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APOD: NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus (2021 Nov 11)

Post by APOD Robot » Thu Nov 11, 2021 5:05 am

Image NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus

Explanation: NGC 1333 is seen in visible light as a reflection nebula, dominated by bluish hues characteristic of starlight reflected by interstellar dust. A mere 1,000 light-years distant toward the heroic constellation Perseus, it lies at the edge of a large, star-forming molecular cloud. This telescopic close-up spans about two full moons on the sky or just over 15 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 1333. It shows details of the dusty region along with telltale hints of contrasty red emission from Herbig-Haro objects, jets and shocked glowing gas emanating from recently formed stars. In fact, NGC 1333 contains hundreds of stars less than a million years old, most still hidden from optical telescopes by the pervasive stardust. The chaotic environment may be similar to one in which our own Sun formed over 4.5 billion years ago.

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Ann
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Re: APOD: NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus (2021 Nov 11)

Post by Ann » Thu Nov 11, 2021 6:31 am

Let's compare a few pictures of NGC 1333:


Notice any differences between today's APOD (top left) and the other three images? Well, the blue reflection nebula of today's APOD looks more "transparent" than it does in the other images.

But there is another difference as well: The color of the reflection nebula. In today's APOD the hue of this nebula is washed-out and blandly grayish, whereas all the other three images show it in vibrant shades of blue. And the fact that this latest addition of the "NGC 1333 gallery" is so relatively lacking in blue color may well be a sign of the times, because brilliantly blue hues are ever less fashionable.

Not so long ago, light blue was a popular color. Nowadays, this shade of blue is considered "tacky". If you want to be smart, you prefer a grayish shade of blue instead, . Another acceptable shade of blue nowadays is the "cyan-gray" variety.

For me, the modern day's "rejection" of sweet lovely blue hues is terribly sad. No wonder all my curtains, carpets and other stuff is old, because it is impossible to buy things that are the shade of blue that I want!


That's an old image of the Pleiades, but is that the future of blue in astrophotography? Except of course in mapped color images, where bright blue is sometimes used to show the presence of green OIII and green symbolizes the presence of red Hα.

Ann
Last edited by Ann on Thu Nov 11, 2021 6:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: APOD: NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus (2021 Nov 11)

Post by orin stepanek » Thu Nov 11, 2021 1:50 pm

ngc1333_RGB-c21024.jpg
These planet forming Nebulae can be so pretty! 8-)
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Re: APOD: NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus (2021 Nov 11)

Post by Suffering Fool » Thu Nov 11, 2021 4:04 pm

So "visible light" doesn't equate to what you would see with your eye through a telescope? I.e. this is a false color image?

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Re: APOD: NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus (2021 Nov 11)

Post by Chris Peterson » Thu Nov 11, 2021 4:18 pm

Suffering Fool wrote: Thu Nov 11, 2021 4:04 pm So "visible light" doesn't equate to what you would see with your eye through a telescope? I.e. this is a false color image?
This image appears to have been made using broadband red, green, and blue filters, meaning it is not false color. No such astronomical object is bright enough for human eyes to perceive any color at all, but the colors as presented are reasonably similar to what we'd see if our eyes' sensitivity to light was higher.
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Re: APOD: NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus (2021 Nov 11)

Post by neufer » Thu Nov 11, 2021 8:06 pm

Click to play embedded YouTube video.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseides wrote:
<<Perseus and Andromeda had seven sons: Perses, Alcaeus, Heleus, Mestor, Sthenelus, Electryon, and Cynurus, and two daughters, Gorgophone, and Autochthe. Perses was left in Aethiopia and was believed to have become an ancestor of the Persians. The other descendants ruled Mycenae from Electryon down to Eurystheus, after whom Atreus got the kingdom. The most renowned of the Perseides was Greece's greatest hero, Heracles son of Zeus and Alcmene, daughter of Electryon.>>
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Re: APOD: NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus (2021 Nov 11)

Post by jragsdale82 » Thu Nov 11, 2021 8:41 pm

Yesterday's clue was "67P", what does NGC1333 have to do with the new comet?

heehaw

Re: APOD: NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus (2021 Nov 11)

Post by heehaw » Thu Nov 11, 2021 10:52 pm

Suffering Fool wrote: Thu Nov 11, 2021 4:04 pm So "visible light" doesn't equate to what you would see with your eye through a telescope? I.e. this is a false color image?
In Virginia, there is a cave, with cave tours. On one of them, the guide turned out the light, and shone a UV map! Glorious fluorescence! A tour member complained, "that's not real!". The guide said...OK: you want real? and turned out ALL the lights.

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Re: APOD: NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus (2021 Nov 11)

Post by alter-ego » Fri Nov 12, 2021 4:29 am

Today's image kinda looks like an aerial or satellite nighttime view of the California wildfires.
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Re: APOD: NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus (2021 Nov 11)

Post by MarkBour » Fri Nov 12, 2021 5:06 am

alter-ego wrote: Fri Nov 12, 2021 4:29 am Today's image kinda looks like an aerial or satellite nighttime view of the California wildfires.
Wow, it does indeed look like a firescape.
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Re: APOD: NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus (2021 Nov 11)

Post by neufer » Fri Nov 12, 2021 3:59 pm

Click to play embedded YouTube video.
MarkBour wrote: Fri Nov 12, 2021 5:06 am
alter-ego wrote: Fri Nov 12, 2021 4:29 am
Today's image kinda looks like an aerial or satellite nighttime view of the California wildfires.
Wow, it does indeed look like a firescape.
Art Neuendorffer

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Re: APOD: NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus (2021 Nov 11)

Post by MarkBour » Sat Nov 13, 2021 5:35 am

neufer wrote: Fri Nov 12, 2021 3:59 pm (Mad, Mad, mad ...)
I was wondering if you might pick up on my made-up word "firescape".

You (and Spencer Tracy) did not disappoint. That movie had about every living comedian (at the time) in its cast, even Buster Keaton! It didn't age well, the humor seems just silly now (time is rough on comedy). But the fire escape scene is a classic. :-)

Click to play embedded YouTube video.
Mark Goldfain

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