Reflection Nebula NGC 1999

Stsci_2000-10a_1024

stsci_2000-10a March 2nd, 2000

Credit: NASA/ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI)

Just weeks after NASA astronauts repaired the Hubble Space Telescope in December 1999, the Hubble Heritage Project snapped this picture of NGC 1999, a nebula in the constellation Orion. The Heritage astronomers, in collaboration with scientists in Texas and Ireland, used Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) to obtain the color image. NGC 1999 is an example of a reflection nebula. Like fog around a street lamp, a reflection nebula shines only because the light from an embedded source illuminates its dust; the nebula does not emit any visible light of its own. NGC 1999 lies close to the famous Orion Nebula, about 1,500 light-years from Earth, in a region of our Milky Way galaxy where new stars are being formed actively. The nebula is famous in astronomical history because the first Herbig-Haro object was discovered immediately adjacent to it (it lies just outside the new Hubble image). Herbig-Haro objects are now known to be jets of gas ejected from very young stars. The NGC 1999 nebula is illuminated by a bright, recently formed star, visible in the Hubble photo just to the left of center. This star is cataloged as V380 Orionis, and its white color is due to its high surface temperature of about 10,000 degrees Celsius (nearly twice that of our own Sun). Its mass is estimated to be 3.5 times that of the Sun. The star is so young that it is still surrounded by a cloud of material left over from its formation, here seen as the NGC 1999 reflection nebula. The WFPC2 image of NGC 1999 shows a remarkable jet-black cloud near its center, resembling a letter T tilted on its side, located just to the right and lower right of the bright star. This dark cloud is an example of a "Bok globule," named after the late University of Arizona astronomer Bart Bok. The globule is a cold cloud of gas, molecules, and cosmic dust, which is so dense it blocks all of the light behind it. In the Hubble image, the globule is seen silhouetted against the reflection nebula illuminated

Provider: Space Telescope Science Institute

Image Source: https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2000/news-2000-10

Curator: STScI, Baltimore, MD, USA

Image Use Policy: http://hubblesite.org/copyright/

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
NGC 1999
Subject - Milky Way
Nebula > Appearance > Reflection

Distance

Universescale1
1,500 light years
Stsci_2000-10a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 5h 36m 24.8s
DEC = -6° 42’ 50.3”
Orientation
North is 24.1° CW
Field of View
1.2 x 1.3 arcminutes
Constellation
Orion

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (B) 450.0 nm
Green Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (V) 555.0 nm
Red Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (R) 675.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Blue
Green
Red
Stsci_2000-10a_1280
×
ID
2000-10a
Subject Category
B.4.2.2  
Subject Name
NGC 1999
Credits
NASA/ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI)
Release Date
2000-03-02T00:00:00
Lightyears
1,500
Redshift
1,500
Reference Url
https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2000/news-2000-10
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Distance in Lightyears
Facility
Hubble, Hubble, Hubble
Instrument
WFPC2, WFPC2, WFPC2
Color Assignment
Blue, Green, Red
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
B, V, R
Central Wavelength
450, 555, 675
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
2000.0
Reference Value
84.10329170861, -6.71396177611
Reference Dimension
750.00, 763.00
Reference Pixel
412.46908647813, 418.07247314638
Scale
-0.00002755536, 0.00002755536
Rotation
-24.12270485553
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
World Coordinate System resolved using PinpointWCS 0.9.2 revision 218+ by the Chandra X-ray Center FITS X FITS Y EPO X EPO Y 1052.91 1346.32 206.24 385.31 1397.26 1393.84 500.65 574.42 1425.72 1461.60 499.97 646.82 1362.82 1074.82 600.32 266.52 Center Pixel Coordinates: 375.00 84.10384062713 381.50 -6.71528967645
Creator (Curator)
STScI
URL
http://hubblesite.org
Name
Space Telescope Science Institute Office of Public Outreach
Email
outreach@stsci.edu
Telephone
410-338-4444
Address
3700 San Martin Drive
City
Baltimore
State/Province
MD
Postal Code
21218
Country
USA
Rights
http://hubblesite.org/copyright/
Publisher
STScI
Publisher ID
stsci
Resource ID
STSCI-H-p0010a-f-750x763.tif
Resource URL
https://mast.stsci.edu/api/latest/Download/file?uri=mast:OPO/product/STSCI-H-p0010a-f-750x763.tif
Related Resources
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2000/10
Metadata Date
2022-07-06T00:00:00
Metadata Version
1.2
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×
Universescalefull
1,500 light years

Providers | Sign In