WATCH: NASA shares stunning 3D view of Orion Nebula to mark Chinese New Year
Orion Nebula
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Saturday (Feb 10) shared a stunning three-dimensional view of the Orion Nebula, which is one of the brightest nebulae, to mark the occasion of Chinese New Year, a festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar.
Orion Nebula is visible to the naked eye in the night sky with an apparent magnitude of 4.0 and the 3-D view was created using data from the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) mission, which is a joint programme between NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). SOFIA is a telescope capable of making observations from onboard an aeroplane.
In the media posted by NASA, the Orion Nebula appears to be in the shape of a dragon. The nebula has a blue centre, with red wispy fragments on the outer detail.
The current year, that is 2024 is the year of dragon, also known as Loong. It is the fifth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.
In an Instagram post, NASA wrote, "Welcome to the year of the Dragon. In this three-dimensional view of the Orion Nebula – Earth's closest star-formation nursery – was created using data from the SOFIA mission."
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Here's is the 3-D view:
NASA said that the 3-D view reveals the detailed structure of the nebula, including a "bubble" that has been blown clear of gas and dust by a powerful stellar wind.
The US-based space agency said that massive stars can regulate star formation around them, and the SOFIA mission helped astronomers better understand this effect.
According to NASA, SOFIA was a mission of discovery, revealing "unseen – and sometimes unseeable – parts of our universe".
While science flights have ended, SOFIA's data from a total of 732 nights observing over the course of the mission are publicly available for scientists to study and conduct further research in the future," NASA added.
(With inputs from agencies)