First Light #1
NGC 2024 - Flame Nebula
Unprocessed observation
COAST telescope, Teide Observatory, Tenerife
The image is a remotely taken 3 minutes exposure via the 35cm Celestron 14” Schmidt-Cassegrain COAST Mark II telescope at the Teide Observatory on the island of Tenerife. It shows an unprocessed raw view of the Flame emission nebula in the constellation Orion, around 1200 light years away from earth.
The bright star Alnitak (ζ Ori)(red dot on the star chart below), the easternmost star in the Belt of Orion, shines energetic ultraviolet light into the Flame and this knocks electrons away from the great clouds of hydrogen gas that reside there. Much of the glow (bright filaments in center of picture) results when the electrons and ionized hydrogen recombine. Additional dark gas and dust lies in front of the bright part of the nebula and this is what causes the dark network that appears in the center of the glowing gas (dark parts in center of picture). The Flame Nebula is part of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex.
The bright star Alnitak (ζ Ori)(red dot on the star chart below), the easternmost star in the Belt of Orion, shines energetic ultraviolet light into the Flame and this knocks electrons away from the great clouds of hydrogen gas that reside there. Much of the glow (bright filaments in center of picture) results when the electrons and ionized hydrogen recombine. Additional dark gas and dust lies in front of the bright part of the nebula and this is what causes the dark network that appears in the center of the glowing gas (dark parts in center of picture). The Flame Nebula is part of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex.
Observation time acquired via the Open University.
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