Admire the stunning Rosette Nebula in all its chromatic splendor.
The Dark Energy Camera has captured an stunning image of a rose-shaped nebula, located 5,000 light-years away.
At the heart of the Rosette Nebula lies NGC 2244, a young star cluster nurtured by this cosmic region. The stars of this cluster illuminate the nebula with vibrant shades of red, gold, and purple, while opaque towers of dust rise from the clouds surrounding its carved core. This stunning image was captured by the 570-megapixel Dark Energy Camera (DECam), mounted on the 4-meter Víctor M. Blanco Telescope, located at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, part of the NSF NOIRLab program. The image is being released in commemoration of NOIRLab's fifth anniversary.
The Rosette Nebula, located 5,000 light-years away from our planet, acts as a stellar nursery, housing a cluster of young stars at its core. Unlike other telescopes like the James Webb, which operates in infrared wavelengths, the DECam observes in the optical range, allowing it to perceive colors similar to those seen by the human eye. The brightness and vividness of the colors in this image are due to the intense starlight emitted by the young stars of the cluster, which release large amounts of ultraviolet radiation, ionizing the nearby hydrogen gas. This ionized gas emits a bright glow, giving the nebula its captivating appearance.
The red clouds seen are indicative of H-alpha emission regions, produced by highly energized hydrogen atoms that emit red light. Closer to the core where the massive stars are located, radiation causes the ionization of heavier atoms, such as oxygen, which shines in golden and yellow tones. Meanwhile, the edges of the nebula's "petals" exhibit thin strands of deep pink, illuminated by light emitted from ionized silicon.
Although the nebula extends for 130 light-years, there is a blank area at its center lacking red or yellow colors, indicating an absence of gas in that region. This void has been created by the process of star formation, as dust and gas have clumped together, gravitationally attracting more material until these cores collapse to form new stars. This cluster, known as NGC 2244, formed about 2 million years ago. As the stars evolve, they produce stellar winds that clear away the surrounding dust and gas, inhibiting the formation of more stars nearby. These winds have generated the void in the center of the nebula, and eventually, they will contribute to its disappearance. In about 10 million years, the stellar winds will have expelled enough material for the nebula to disintegrate, leaving only the stars without their characteristic rose-shaped cloud.
