NOAO Image Gallery: Emission Nebulae

NOAO Image Gallery

Emission Nebulae

NOAO is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc. under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation

The astronomical images presented on these pages are provided through the facilities of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, unless otherwise noted. If you plan to use any of these images for other than your personal enjoyment please read our conditions of use.

Emission nebulae are glowing clouds of interstellar gas which have been excited by some nearby energy source, usually a very hot star. The red light seen in many of these pictures is from glowing hydrogen.