Sh2-71

Gemini Legacy image of the complex planetary nebula Sh2-71 as imaged by the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph on Gemini North on Mauna Kea in Hawai‘i. The long-assumed central star is the brightest star near the center, but some astronomers wonder if the much dimmer and bluer star (just to the right and down a bit) might be the parent of this beautiful object. The image is composed of three narrow-band images, and each is assigned a color as follows: H-alpha (orange), HeII (blue) and [OIII] (cyan). Each image is 15 minutes in duration, the field-of-view is 5.3 x 3.6 arcminutes, and the image is rotated 110 degrees clockwise from north up, east left.

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Full Resolution TIF (23.5 MB)

Medium Resolution JPG (4.1 MB)

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Link to wallpaper.