APOD: Portrait of NGC 281 (2016 Nov 04)

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APOD Robot
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APOD: Portrait of NGC 281 (2016 Nov 04)

Post by APOD Robot » Fri Nov 04, 2016 4:10 am

Image Portrait of NGC 281

Explanation: Look through the cosmic cloud cataloged as NGC 281 and you might miss the stars of open cluster IC 1590. Still, formed within the nebula that cluster's young, massive stars ultimately power the pervasive nebular glow. The eye-catching shapes looming in this portrait of NGC 281 are sculpted columns and dense dust globules seen in silhouette, eroded by intense, energetic winds and radiation from the hot cluster stars. If they survive long enough, the dusty structures could also be sites of future star formation. Playfully called the Pacman Nebula because of its overall shape, NGC 281 is about 10,000 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. This sharp composite image was made through narrow-band filters, combining emission from the nebula's hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen atoms in green, red, and blue hues. It spans over 80 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 281.

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orin stepanek
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Re: APOD: Portrait of NGC 281 (2016 Nov 04)

Post by orin stepanek » Fri Nov 04, 2016 12:01 pm

One Word to decribe; Beautiful! 8-)
Orin

Smile today; tomorrow's another day!

heehaw

Re: APOD: Portrait of NGC 281 (2016 Nov 04)

Post by heehaw » Fri Nov 04, 2016 10:35 pm

It is a beautiful picture. My emotions are engaged by the blue background. I've wondered before how it is that we humans who before Galileo saw none of this could be attuned to it emotionally. Ancient Greeks studied science and beauty. Science proved productive; beauty not so much. Perhaps in the next century beauty will come into its own? The bees and we agree on the beauty of the flowers (I've noted that before, too; little is original in life of course). Mysteries! mysteries!

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Re: APOD: Portrait of NGC 281 (2016 Nov 04)

Post by neufer » Sat Nov 05, 2016 12:52 am

heehaw wrote:
My emotions are engaged by the blue background. I've wondered before how it is that we humans who before Galileo saw none of this could be attuned to it emotionally. Ancient Greeks studied science and beauty. Science proved productive; beauty not so much. Perhaps in the next century beauty will come into its own? The bees and we agree on the beauty of the flowers (I've noted that before, too; little is original in life of course). Mysteries! mysteries!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit wrote:
<<Edible fruits have propagated with the movements of humans and animals in a symbiotic relationship as a means for seed dispersal and nutrition; in fact, humans and many animals have become dependent on fruits as a source of food.>>
Art Neuendorffer

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Re: APOD: Portrait of NGC 281 (2016 Nov 04)

Post by MarkBour » Sat Nov 05, 2016 1:36 am

heehaw wrote:It is a beautiful picture. My emotions are engaged by the blue background. I've wondered before how it is that we humans who before Galileo saw none of this could be attuned to it emotionally. Ancient Greeks studied science and beauty. Science proved productive; beauty not so much. Perhaps in the next century beauty will come into its own? The bees and we agree on the beauty of the flowers (I've noted that before, too; little is original in life of course). Mysteries! mysteries!
Personally, I think one of the many factors involved in this is that we humans simply tend to be pretty easy to please in some sense. We gather these images in our favorite colors, or we false-color them if they're not there to begin with. The first time I ever saw a picture of a nebula, I thought it was simply the weirdest thing. It kind of looked like someone had vomited, or spilled a drink. Over time, I've seen many of them, and I've seen many people commenting on how lovely some of them are. I finally began to experience the appreciation myself, but I think it has been learned.
Mark Goldfain

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