Multimedia Gallery
FLAMINGOS-2 image of Swan Nebula
This near-infrared image was taken by the Gemini Observatory’s latest tool for astronomers, a second-generation infrared instrument called FLAMINGOS-2, and details part of the magnificent Swan Nebula (M17), where ultraviolet radiation streaming from young hot stars sculpts a dense region of dust and gas into myriad fanciful forms. M17 lies some 5,200 light-years distant in the constellation Sagittarius and is one of the most massive and luminous star-forming region's in our galaxy. It is also one of the most studied. [Field of view: 5.5 x 4.0 arcmin.]
To learn more, see the Gemini Observatory news story Poised for discovery: Gemini’s much-anticipated infrared instrument goes on-sky. (Date image taken: 2014; date originally posted to NSF Multimedia Gallery: Dec. 1, 2016)
Credit: Gemini Observatory/AURA
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