The Tulip Nebula

This is a telescopic view looking out along the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy toward the nebula rich constellation Cygnus the Swan. The image shows a bright emission region known as the Tulip Nebula; it is a glowing cloud of gas and dust also known as Sh2-101. the nebula is about 8,000 light years distant. The Tulip Nebula is so named as it resembles the outline of a tulip, though

h it is not the only nebula named after a flower.

The image is a composite that maps emission from ionized sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms into red, green, and blue colors. The atoms are ionized by ultraviolet radiation from a young, energetic O star called HDE 227018; this powers the emission from the Tulip Nebula. HDE 227018 is the bright star very near the blue arc at the image center