APOD: M43: Dust, Gas, and Stars in the... (2020 Jul 06)

[APOD Robot]

M43: Dust, Gas, and Stars in the Orion Nebula

Explanation: Unspeakable beauty and unimaginable bedlam can be found together in the Orion Nebula Arguably the most famous of all astronomy nebulas, the Great Nebula in Orion is an immense interstellar molecular cloud only 1500 light-years away. In the <a href=https://www.instagram.com/p/CBgUetMgoUb/>featured deep image</a> shown in assigned colors, the part of the nebula's center known as M43 is shown as taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The Great Nebula in Orion can be found with the unaided eye near the easily identifiable belt of three stars in the popular constellation Orion. The entire Orion Nebula, including both M42 and M43 spans about 40 light years and is located in the same spiral arm of our Galaxy as the Sun.

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[orin stepanek]

Sort of looks like a man's head!

[BDanielMayfield]

Excellent and unusual view of the Orion Nebula. The usual views are zoomed in to the bright core, but this shows the wider surrounding area very well.

[neufer]

A man's head????

---

Sort of looks like a man's head!

Oh brothel! It's clearly a Young Lady's head of "unspeakable beauty":

A Young Ladies of Avignon

---

Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (The Young Ladies of Avignon, originally titled The Brothel of Avignon) is a large oil painting created in 1907 by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. The work, part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, portrays five nude female prostitutes in a brothel on Carrer d'Avinyó (translated into Spanish: Calle de Aviñón [es]), a street in Barcelona. Each figure is depicted in a disconcerting confrontational manner and none is conventionally feminine. The women appear slightly menacing and are rendered with angular and disjointed body shapes. The figure on the left exhibits facial features and dress of Egyptian or southern Asian style. The two adjacent figures are shown in the Iberian style of Picasso's native Spain, while the two on the right are shown with African mask-like features. The racial primitivism evoked in these masks, according to Picasso, moved him to "liberate an utterly original artistic style of compelling, even savage force."

[TheZuke!]

Sort of looks like a man's head!

He looks very Klingon to me.

[Sa Ji Tario]

I find a doctor with glasses and a nurse

[Jerome68]

Every time I see this kind of image, I cannot stop thinking about the dimensions... see an entire Galaxy (huge per se), with millions of stars (stars, like our sun), saw so small and so far... I don't know, cannot describe how profound it looks like ... (sorry for being so corny on this comment, but I needed to share it )

[TheZuke!]

I find a doctor with glasses and a nurse

Glasses of what?

[orin stepanek]

Sort of looks like a man's head!

He looks very Klingon to me.

What is he; she clinging on to?

[orin stepanek]

I find a doctor with glasses and a nurse

Glasses of what?

Ah; yes; a glass of beer t'would be nice!

[Boomer12k]

I find it interesting, and a bit puzzling... there are swirls and round edges everywhere...but near the center..."in the pink"... is a VERY straight line... I assume of ionized gas or something...
When everything else is CURVED... why is that so very straight???
Any answer?

Thanks,

:---[===] *

[Sa Ji Tario]

Orin, Zuke no glasses, frame lenses

[Ann]

I find it interesting, and a bit puzzling... there are swirls and round edges everywhere...but near the center..."in the pink"... is a VERY straight line... I assume of ionized gas or something...
When everything else is CURVED... why is that so very straight???
Any answer?

Thanks,

:---[===] *

I assume you mean the straight red line in M43 that I have marked with an arrow.

I wish I knew why it is straight. Obviously it has to do with gaseous outflows, feedback, the density of the dust, the relative proportions of gas and dust and different elements, and the onslaught of ultraviolet photons. But what exactly it is that forms this particular straight line, I can't say.

Compare the picture of M43 with the picture of the Orion Nebula and M43. Note the strong straight line in the Orion Nebula. What causes it? Well... gaseous outflows, feedback, the density of the dust, the relative proportions of gas and dust and different elements, and the onslaught of ultraviolet photons?

Note the straight line in M43 in the picture of the Orion Nebula and M43.

Ann

[Jerome68]

Imo, putting meaning to that line is the same as putting meaning to the shape of a cloud. There is a meaning for us because our brains are relating that shape with something, however, is just how the cloud is at that moment.

Knowing about the reason, it would be such a complex process, basically, because this is a perfect example of a chaotic system result, it means many factors and variables, influencing each other, in which a small change in the initial state it implies a huge output difference.

[BDanielMayfield]

Every time I see this kind of image, I cannot stop thinking about the dimensions... see an entire Galaxy (huge per se), with millions of stars (stars, like our sun), saw so small and so far... I don't know, cannot describe how profound it looks like ... (sorry for being so corny on this comment, but I needed to share it )

No need to think you were being corny Jerome. Reading about the way this photo moved you personally was nice, thanks for sharing.

"thinking about the dimensions" Yeah, that's the way to start looking at such astro photos with insight, trying to see, not just how it looks, but what it really is ... Which means thinking about dimensions, and not just length and breadth but also depth, and even time.


Bruce

[Jerome68]

Thanks a lot for the comment Bruce, it is very nice. And appreciate a lot feeling being understood, personally, I think I just love science and space. And cannot avoid getting moved when seeing some of these impressive pictures.

[Boomer12k]

I find it interesting, and a bit puzzling... there are swirls and round edges everywhere...but near the center..."in the pink"... is a VERY straight line... I assume of ionized gas or something...
When everything else is CURVED... why is that so very straight???
Any answer?

Thanks,

:---[===] *

M43 with straight line and arrow.png

Orion Nebula with straight line and arrow.png

I assume you mean the straight red line in M43 that I have marked with an arrow.

I wish I knew why it is straight. Obviously it has to do with gaseous outflows, feedback, the density of the dust, the relative proportions of gas and dust and different elements, and the onslaught of ultraviolet photons. But what exactly it is that forms this particular straight line, I can't say.

Compare the picture of M43 with the picture of the Orion Nebula and M43. Note the strong straight line in the Orion Nebula. What causes it? Well... gaseous outflows, feedback, the density of the dust, the relative proportions of gas and dust and different elements, and the onslaught of ultraviolet photons?

Note the straight line in M43 in the picture of the Orion Nebula and M43.

Ann

Thank you Ann.... at least we can know some of the elements, if not the exact answer... it is also noted in both nebulae...I find it interesting to have the same type of striation... maybe a "bubble"...that ran into a more dense area, and flattened out against it with a "shock" ridge.

:---[===] *

[BDanielMayfield]

I find it interesting, and a bit puzzling... there are swirls and round edges everywhere...but near the center..."in the pink"... is a VERY straight line... I assume of ionized gas or something...
When everything else is CURVED... why is that so very straight???
Any answer?

Thanks,

:---[===] *

M43 with straight line and arrow.png

Orion Nebula with straight line and arrow.png

I wish I knew why it is straight. Obviously it has to do with gaseous outflows, feedback, the density of the dust, the relative proportions of gas and dust and different elements, and the onslaught of ultraviolet photons. But what exactly it is that forms this particular straight line, I can't say.

Compare the picture of M43 with the picture of the Orion Nebula and M43. Note the strong straight line in the Orion Nebula. What causes it? Well... gaseous outflows, feedback, the density of the dust, the relative proportions of gas and dust and different elements, and the onslaught of ultraviolet photons?

Note the straight line in M43 in the picture of the Orion Nebula and M43.

Ann

Just another suggestion for the possible cause of a straight line effect: Might it be light from a bright but hidden star that is streaming through a gap in the dust clouds? Like light coming through and old stile keyhole?

Bruce