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> Sh2-106 nebula in Cygnus

Sh2-106 nebula in Cygnus

author: Nasa/ESA/Hubble heritage team/ NAOJ/Novapix

reference: a-neb85-10602

Image Size 300 DPI: 25 * 25 cm

The bipolar star-forming region, called Sharpless 2-106, or S106 for short, looks like a soaring, celestial snow angel. The outstretched "wings" of the nebula record the contrasting imprint of heat and motion against the backdrop of a colder medium. Twin lobes of super-hot gas, glowing blue in this image, stretch outward from the central star. This hot gas creates the "wings" of our angel. A ring of dust and gas orbiting the star acts like a belt, cinching the expanding nebula into an "hourglass" shape. This composite image combines optical and near-infrared astronomical data from the Hubble Space Telescope with mid-infrared data from the ground-based Subaru Telescope, located on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The Hubble data (H-alpha, J, and H) were taken as part of Hubble Heritage observations of S106 in Feburary 2011. The Subaru data were obtained in May 1999.

Keywords for this photo:

2011 - ASTRONOMY - CYGNUS - EMISSION NEBULA - HST - HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - NEBULA - SH2-106 - STAR - STAR FORMATION - SUBARU -