Credit: KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/John and Christie Connor/Adam Block

Few regions of nebulosity show the variety of color and detail that this small region around NGC 6559 does. At the left of this image wispy dark clouds hang delicately in the foreground of diffuse glowing hydrogen gas. These lead further toward a very bright, red arc of gas that seems to shield luminous and hot stars beneath it. Presumably the birth and subsequent energetic radiative output of these stars causes the gas to glow very brightly. Even though these stars have strived to push away all of the gas and dust near them, thicker portions remain (the mountains of dark nebulosity) and continue to scatter light which color the area with hints of blue and purple. NGC 6559 can be found in most wide-field images of the Lagoon Nebula. Also be certain to visit IC 1274 as it is a related glowing gas cloud to this complex. This image was taken as part of Advanced Observing Program (AOP) program at Kitt Peak Visitor Center during 2014.

Provider: NOIRLab

Image Source: https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noao-n6559connor/

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

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License