NGC 6559
NGC 6559 is part of a larger star-forming region in the southern constellation Sagittarius. The dark structure that resembles a Chinese dragon is caused by cool dust that absorbs background radiation from hydrogen gas that glows in red light due to ionization from nearby stars. This region lies less than one degree away from the popular Lagoon Nebula (M8), and is located some 5,000 light-years away toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy. At this distance the length of the cloud (diagonally across the image) is about 7 light-years. The intricate details and wispy structure in the dark cloud is determined by turbulence flow dynamics influenced by variables such as nearby star radiation and motions of other nearby gas and dust. These kinds of clouds illustrate how past generations of stars are dispersing heavier elements into our galaxy, material that will seed future generations of stars and possibly planetary systems. The seeing in this image is 0.5 arcseconds.
| Observatory: | Gemini Observatory (South) Cerro Pachon, Chile |
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| Telescope: | Gemini South |
| Instrument: | GMOS-S |
| Astronomer: | Gemini Observatory and T. A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) |
| Date of Observation: | 07-10-2005 |
| Filters and Assigned Colors: | g (blue), r (green), i (yellow) and H-alpha (red) |
| Exposure Times: | 4x2min in g,r,i 4x5min in H-alpha |
| Location of Image: | Sagittarius |
| Field of View: | 5.5 x 4.1 arcminutes |
| Orientation: | East is down, and North is right (rotated 165 degrees east of north) |
| Link to Larger Image | |
| Link to Full Resolution Image | |
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