Colorful Cosmic Reflections: Nebula NGC 2170 | Cerro Tololo Observatory

Colorful Cosmic Reflections: Nebula NGC 2170 | Cerro Tololo Observatory

This striking image, streaked with bright swathes of color, captures the beautiful reflection nebula NGC 2170. The diffuse clouds of interstellar dust in the nebula scatter and reflect light from nearby stars, creating this vividly colorful scene. Dust grains reflect blue light from hot stars embedded in the nebula. Warm hydrogen gas glows a deep red. Seen as dark tendrils, dust also absorbs the light from stars and gas behind it. 

This particular nebula lies in the constellation Monoceros (The Unicorn)—a faint constellation on the celestial equator. It was observed using the SMARTS 0.9-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, a Program of the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab.

Credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA)

Acknowledgments: Travis Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), Mahdi Zamani & Davide de Martin

Release Date: Nov. 25, 2020

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