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Messier 78, NGC 2071 and NGC 2112 |
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Short object description
The nebula was discovered around 1745 by the Swiss
astronomer Jean-Philippe Loys de Chéseaux. The object lies in the
constellation Orion and is about 1600 light years away from the solar system. M
78 was discovered by Pierre Mechain in March 1780.
While in emission nebulae gas clouds are stimulated to
glow by ionization of high-energy stars, in reflection nebulae the gas masses
reflect only the light of bright nearby stars. Messier 78 is one of the
brightest reflection nebulae in the sky and can already be observed with
smaller telescopes in dark surroundings.
The two bright stars HD 38563 A and HD 38563 B produce a major part
of the light that illuminates the reflection nebulae. But the nebula is home to
many more stars, including a collection of 45 low-mass young stars, so-called T
Tauri stars, which are less than 10 million years old and hide behind the dust
clouds. |
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« The picture on the left shows the core of
Messier 78, taken with the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the La Silla
Observatory in Chile. Credit:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Messier_78.jpg
Our wide angle image shows, besides M78 on the left, a
part of Barnard's Loop, an extensive, red glowing, H-II region. It is located
about 1600 light years away from the solar system and thus about the same
distance as Messier 78.
At about
the same altitude as M78 (left in the image) is the open star cluster NGC 2112,
about 2800 light-years away from the H-II region of Barnards Loop. It was
discovered by William Herschel on 1 January 1786.
The two bright stars in the lower right of the image
are Alnitak (left) and Alnila, two of the three belted stars of the
constellation Orion. The nebular region left of Alnitak is NGC 2024, which is a
mixture of emission, reflection and dark nebula and is also 1600 light years
away. It was discovered on 1 January 1786 by Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel, the
father of William Herschel. |
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All Images and all Content are © by Franz Hofmann
+ Wolfgang Paech |