Astrophoto: The Seagull Nebula

By Nancy Atkinson - January 06, 2011 05:16 PM UTC | Observing

This lovely image of the Seagull Nebula was sent to us by Cesar Cantu from the Chilidog Observatory in Monterrey, Mexico. He took the image on January 4, 2011 using a Takahashi FSQ106 Telescope and a Canon 5D camera. The Seagull is near Sirius, the main star in the constellation Canis Major. The region also includes NGC 2327 - a compact, dusty emission region with an embedded massive star that forms the bird's head and IC 2177 - forming the sweeping arc of the seagull's wings. The image is dominated by the reddish glow of atomic hydrogen and is about 3,800 light-years away.

Beautiful! See more at Cesar's website, Astrophoto.

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Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com