Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Orion (Ori)  ·  Contains:  NGC 2024
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NGC 2024, Gary Imm
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NGC 2024

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NGC 2024, Gary Imm
Powered byPixInsight

NGC 2024

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Description

This object, also known as Sh2-277, is an emission nebula located 1300 light years away in the constellation of Orion at a declination of -2 degrees. The nebula spans 30 arc-minutes in our apparent view, which corresponds to a span of just over 10 light years.

This object includes an embedded cluster of young stars, hidden by the huge dark dust lane in the center of the image. Looking carefully along this dark lane, you can see many faint tiny dots scattered through the nebula. This is especially noticeable in the full resolution view. As shown in infrared views of this object taken by others, these "dots" are all bright stars whose brilliance is dimmed by a thick layer of dust.

The bright blue star Alnitak, which is the furthest east star in Orion's Belt, is just off the top of the image and is responsible for creating the purple hues along the edge of the emission area.

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