Chinese Dragon NGC 6559

Noirlab_gemini0509b_1024

noirlab_gemini0509b August 26th, 2005

Credit: International Gemini Observatory

Gemini South image of dragon-like dark nebula NGC 6559 NGC 6559 is a relatively small, nearby dust cloud in our Milky Way galaxy that measures about seven light-years across. NGC 6559 is part of a larger star-forming region in the southern constellation Sagittarius. The dark structure that resembles a Chinese dragon is caused by cool dust that absorbs background radiation from hydrogen gas that glows in red light due to ionization from nearby stars. The intricate details and wispy structure in the dark cloud is determined by turbulence flow dynamics influenced by variables such as nearby star radiation and motions of other nearby gas and dust. These kinds of clouds illustrate how past generations of stars are dispersing heavier elements into our galaxy, material that will seed future generations of stars and possibly planetary systems.

Provider: NOIRLab

Image Source: https://noirlab.edu/public/images/gemini0509b/

Curator: NSF's NOIRLab, Tucson, AZ, USA

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

View Options View Options

Download Options Download Options

Image Details Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
NGC 6559
Noirlab_gemini0509b_128
 

Position Details Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 18h 9m 36.9s
DEC = -24° 1’ 14.4”
Orientation
North is 15.0° CCW
Field of View
5.5 x 4.1 arcminutes
Constellation
Sagittarius

Color Mapping Details Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Gemini-S (GMOS-S) Optical (H-alpha) 656.0 nm
Yellow Gemini-S (GMOS-S) Optical (i) 780.0 nm
Green Gemini-S (GMOS-S) Optical (r) 630.0 nm
Blue Gemini-S (GMOS-S) Optical (g) 475.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Yellow
Green
Blue
Noirlab_gemini0509b_1280
×
ID
gemini0509b
Subject Category
Subject Name
NGC 6559
Credits
International Gemini Observatory
Release Date
2005-08-26T20:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://noirlab.edu/public/images/gemini0509b/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Gemini South, Gemini South, Gemini South, Gemini South
Instrument
GMOS-S, GMOS-S, GMOS-S, GMOS-S
Color Assignment
Red, Yellow, Green, Blue
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
H-alpha, i, r, g
Central Wavelength
656, 780, 630, 475
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
None, None, None, None
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
272.403768459, -24.0206802662
Reference Dimension
2275.0, 1700.0
Reference Pixel
1137.5, 850.0
Scale
-4.04449867262e-05, 4.04449867262e-05
Rotation
14.980000000000024
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Position
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
NSF's NOIRLab
URL
https://noirlab.edu
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
950 North Cherry Ave.
City
Tucson
State/Province
AZ
Postal Code
85719
Country
USA
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
NSF's NOIRLab
Publisher ID
noirlab
Resource ID
gemini0509b
Resource URL
http://noirlab.edu/public/media/archives/images/original/gemini0509b.tif
Related Resources
Metadata Date
2021-02-06T02:34:55+01:00
Metadata Version
1.0
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×

There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

Providers | Sign In

NASA’s Universe of Learning materials are based upon work supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number NNX16AC65A to the Space Telescope Science Institute, working in partnership with Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The award is part of NASA’s Science Activation program, which strives to further enable NASA science experts and content into the learning environment more effectively and efficiently with learners of all ages.