Sh2-101 - The Tulip Nebula

carrizmex (39)in #steemstem • 7 years ago

The Tulip Nebula:

Is an emission nebula in the constellation of the Swan. They call it the tulip nebula, since it seems to resemble the silhouette of a tulip. Its technical name is Sharpless 101 or Sh2-101, it is located at a distance of about 6,000 light years from Earth and is about 70 light years in diameter. It is close to the Cygnus X-1, the site of the supposed first black hole. The resplendent cloud of interstellar gas and dust, popularly known as the Tulip Nebula,

Source

It is centered on a brilliant region of hydrogen emission recorded in the 1959 catalog by the astronomer Stewart Sharpless as Sh2-101.

Complex and beautiful in visible light, the area also includes one of the brightest and most famous X-ray sources in the sky, Cygnus X-1. Discovered in the early '70s, Cygnus X-1 is a strange binary system consisting of a massive, hot, supergiant star in close orbit with a stellar mass black hole. The Cygnus X-1 system is estimated to be a comfortable 8,000 light-years away.

Source

The red, green and blue colors correspond to emissions of ionized sulfur, hydrogen and oxygen atoms. Ultraviolet radiation from the young, energetic stars at the edge of the OB3 Cygnus association, such as the O-type star HDE 227.018, ionizes the atoms and empowers the visible light emission of the tulip nebula. HDE 227018 is the star that shines very close to the blue arc in the center of the cosmic tulip.