Diffuse Nebulae Clouds Of Gas In Space The Orion Nebula Is A Distant Interstellar Gas Cloud That Can Be Seen With The U 1 (410.84 KiB) Viewed 30 times
Diffuse Nebulae: Clouds of Gas in Space The Orion nebula is a distant interstellar gas cloud that can be seen with the unaided eye as a fuzzy patch below the "belt" of the constellation Orion the hunter. Figure 15-4 com- prises several different images of the nebula. Figure 15-4A is William Lassell's drawing of the nebula from 1852. Figure 15-4B, at a somewhat different scale, is the first-ever photo- graph of that object, taken through a telescope by New York amateur astronomer Henry Draper in 1880. 7. Compare these two images of the Orion nebula. Describe similarities and differences. 8. Which do you think better reflects the true appearance of the Orion nebula, Lassell's drawing or Draper's photograph? Explain. 9. Given that Draper was a skilled astronomer, why do you think his photo is so poor? Consider that in the 40 years since the advent of photography, no one before Draper had succeeded in taking a picture of any nebula through a telescope. Figure 15-4C shows a much-improved photograph of the Orion nebula taken by English amateur astronomer A. A. Common in 1883, just 3 years after Henry Draper's pioneer- ing attempt. Figure 15-4D is a photograph of the same object taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2006.
10. Compare these images to Lassell's drawing and to each other. Describe similarities and differences.
Figure 15-4A Orion Nebula. Royal Astronomical Society/Photo Researchers, Inc. Figure 15-4B rion Nebula. Harvard College Observatory
Figure 15-4C Orion Nebula. Reproduced from Agnes M. Clerke. A Popular History of Astronomy During the Nineteenth century. Adam & Charles Black, 1887. Figure 15-4D Orion Nebula. Courtesy of NASA/ESA, M. Robberto (STS/ESA) and the Hubble Space Telescope Orion Treasury Project Team
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