Brian,
The star causing the ionization is actually Alnitak, which is the eastern most
star in Orion's belt.
Bernard
-----Original Message-----
From: az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On
Behalf Of Brian Skiff
Sent: Sunday, February 3, 2019 12:06 PM
To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [AZ-Observing] Re: NGC 2024 - The Flame Nebula
On Sun, 2019-02-03 at 11:46 -0700, Bernard Miller wrote:
Hi,
This is an image of NGC 2024, also known as the Flame Nebula. It is an
emission nebula 1,500 light years away in the constellation Orion. The
nebula is ionized by the bright star Alnitak, which is just off the
FOV at the bottom of the image and is responsible for the bluish glow
at the bottom. The dark network that appears throughout the nebula is
cause by gas and dust in front of the nebula obscuring the central
part. This nebula is part of the Orion Molecular cloud and lies just
northeast of the great Orion Nebula.
