The core of NGC 2024

 

 

 

 

This image depicts a starless, cropped version of the Flame Nebula, NGC 2024. It is a well-studied emission nebula and young stellar cluster in the constellation Orion, located in the Orion B molecular cloud at a distance of about 1,350 light-years from us. It is part of the larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, which also contains the famous Orion Nebula (M42) as well as the iconic Horsehead Nebula, Barnard 33, located just in front of the bright red IC434.

NGC 2024 is powered by massive, young stars embedded within dense gas and dust. The principal ionizing source, according to Bik et al., 2003, is believed to be IRS 2b, a hot O-type star which illuminates and ionizes much of the surrounding hydrogen gas. This star -absent in this starless image- is located just left and above the center of this image. The apparent dimensions of the nebula are roughly 30′×30′.

Within it a young cluster -estimated to be about 500,000 years old- of several hundred stars fuels the emission of this nebula. It has been determined that over 86% of these young stars are still surrounded by their circumstellar disks. The cluster contains a significant population of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs: masses down to ~0.02 solar masses have been identified by the Hubble Space Telescope. Recently, the James Webb Telescope has identified -within the cluster-  several free floating objects with masses down to 2-3 times that of Jupiter.

This image, taken in collaboration with Christian Sasse, adds up an exposure time of 41 hours 40 minutes, with narrowband filters (Ha, OIII and SII).