Sh2-260 Nebula in Orion | Mayall Telescope

Sh2-260 Nebula in Orion | Mayall Telescope

This image was obtained with the wide-field view of the Mosaic camera on the 4-meter Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. It shows the northern part of Sh2-260, an enigmatic HII region. The nebula also contains another lobe below the image. What is responsible for its twisted, double-lobed structure is unknown, although it might be related to the giant lambda Orionis molecular right to the east. The image was generated with observations in the B (blue), I (orange) and Hydrogen-Alpha (red) filters. In this image, North is up, East is to the left.

The Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope is a four-meter (158 inches) reflector telescope in Arizona named after the American observational astronomer of the same name. The telescope saw first light on February 27, 1973, and was the second-largest in the world at that time.

Credit: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA)

Release Date: June 30, 2020

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