February 14, 2008
Somewhere above you, light is arriving from places so distant their names feel like poetry.
Long Stem Rosette
Birthday · February 14, 2008
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
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APOD published February 14, 2008. Credit: Caelum Observatory. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
The Rosette Nebula (aka NGC 2237) is not the only cosmic cloud of gas and dust to evoke the imagery of flowers. But it is the one most often suggested as a suitable astronomy image for Valentine's Day. Of the many excellent Rosette Nebula pictures submitted to APOD editors, this view seemed most appropriate, with a long stem of glowing hydrogen gas in the region included in the composition. At the edge of a large molecular cloud in Monoceros, some 5,000 light years away, the petals of this rose are actually a stellar nursery whose lovely, symmetric shape is sculpted by the winds and radiation from its central cluster of hot young stars. The stars in the energetic cluster, cataloged as NGC 2244, are only a few million years old, while the central cavity in the Rosette Nebula is about 50 light-years in diameter. Happy Valentine's Day!
Image credit: Caelum Observatory