Lion Nebula

A Guide to the Lion Nebula

 

Observational Characteristics

 

• This image shows the Lion Nebula, a large emission-nebula complex in the constellation Cepheus.

 

• The glowing red regions are dominated by ionized hydrogen (H-alpha), while the added blue/cyan areas emphasize regions of different emission and gas structure.

 

• Dark dust lanes cut through the brighter clouds, giving the nebula its dramatic shape.

 

• The surrounding field is packed with stars from the Milky Way, with blue-white and warmer orange stars providing strong color contrast.

 

• The annotations identify numerous objects and nebular structures across the field, making this both an astrophotograph and a labeled deep-sky map.

 

Technical Data and Spatial Metrics

 

• Coordinates

 

• RA: 22h 19m 00s

 

• Dec: +56° 05′ 00″

 

• Magnitude: 6

 

• Diameter: 1.2–1.5 quadrillion miles

 

• 58.8 quadrillion miles away from Earth

 

• (58,800,000,000,000,000 miles)

 

• (10,000 light-year)

 

 

Done