Explanation:
Framing a bright emission region
this
telescopic view
looks out along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy toward the
nebula rich constellation
Cygnus
the Swan.
Popularly called the Tulip Nebula the glowing cloud of
interstellar gas and dust is also found in the
1959 catalog
by astronomer Stewart Sharpless
as
Sh2-101.
About 8,000 light-years distant the nebula is
understandably not the only
cosmic cloud to evoke the imagery
of flowers.
The complex and beautiful nebula is shown here in a composite image that
maps emission
from ionized sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms
into red, green, and blue colors.
Ultraviolet radiation from young, energetic
O star HDE 227018
ionizes the atoms
and powers the emission from the Tulip Nebula.
HDE 227018 is the bright star very near the blue
arc at image center.
