Astronomer's Magnificent View of Omega Nebula

Officially catalogued as Messier 17 (M17) and NGC 6618, the nebula in this image is also called the Omega Nebula, the Swan Nebula, the Horseshoe Nebula and the Lobster Nebula. 

Former NASA scientist Fred Herrmann of Huntsville, Ala., sent this photo of the Omega Nebula to SPACE.com on Sept. 25, 2013. 

He used a Takahashi TOA-130 Telescope, STT-8300 Monochrome CCD Camera, and Ha and Oiii elemental filters to capture the image.

Credit: Fred Herrmann | Owl Mountain Observatory

The nebula featured in this beautiful image is officially catalogued as Messier 17 and NGC 6618, but it is called many different names, including the Swan Nebula, the Horseshoe Nebula, the Lobster Nebula and the Omega Nebula.

Located roughly 6,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius (The Archer), Messier 17 is one of the youngest and most active hot beds of star formation within the Milky Way galaxy.

The nebula stretches 15 light-years in diameter, the center of which is packed with gas and dust, which are the raw ingredients from which new stars are born.

A light-year is the distance light travels in one year, or about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers).

NASA WiSE Vision: The Magnificent and Beautiful Andromeda Galaxy

The immense Andromeda galaxy, also known as Messier 31 or simply M31, is captured in full in this new image from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. The mosaic covers an area equivalent to more than 100 full moons, or five degrees across the sky.

WISE used all four of its infrared detectors to capture this picture (3.4- and 4.6-micron light is colored blue; 12-micron light is green; and 22-micron light is red). Blue highlights mature stars, while yellow and red show dust heated by newborn, massive stars.

Andromeda is the closest large galaxy to our Milky Way galaxy, and is located 2.5 million light-years from our sun. It is close enough for telescopes to spy the details of its ringed arms of new stars and hazy blue backbone of older stars.

Also seen in the mosaic are two satellite galaxies, known as M32, located just a bit above Andromeda to the left of center, and the fuzzy blue M110, located below the center of the great spiral arms. These satellites are the largest of several that are gravitationally bound to Andromeda.

The Andromeda galaxy is larger than our Milky Way and contains more stars, but the Milky Way is thought to perhaps have more mass due to its larger proportion of a mysterious substance called dark matter.

Both galaxies belong to our so-called Local Group, a collection of more than 50 galaxies, most of which are tiny dwarf systems. In its quest to map the whole sky, WISE will capture the entire Local Group.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA