Explanation:
Images from two different cameras, a digital
SLR and an astronomical
CCD
camera, are combined in this color starscape.
Both cameras made use of the same telescope at the oceanside
Winter Star Party
in the Florida Keys,
appropriately creating this
portrait of the Seagull Nebula.
The wide view covers a 4x3 degree swath across the plane
of the Milky Way,
near
the direction of Sirius, alpha
star of the constellation Canis Major.
Of course, the broad region includes objects with other
catalog
designations: notably
NGC 2327 -
a compact, dusty emission region
with an embedded massive star that forms the bird's head
(above center), and
IC 2177 -
forming the sweeping arc of the seagull's wings.
Dominated by the reddish glow
of atomic hydrogen,
the complex of cosmic gas and dust clouds with bright
young stars spans over 250 light-years at an estimated
3,800 light-year distance.
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