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Flame Nebula
NGC 2024, also known as the Flame Nebula, is located at a distance of 900-1200 light years. The age of the cluster is thought to be less than one million years and the distribution of stellar masses appears to be consistent with that characterizing the solar neighborhood. Between 40-70% of the stars in this cluster are surrounded by circumstellar accretion disks, commonly associated with young stellar objects. Such disks may be sites of planet formation and could give rise to solar systems not unlike our own. Image Credit: NASA/NSF/CalTech/UMass Acknowledgement: Atlas Image [or Atlas Image mosaic] obtained as part of the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), a joint project of the University of Massachusetts and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center/California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation. Download Wallpaper: 800 x 600 | 1024 x 768 Return to galleries: Earth | Solar System | Stars & Galaxies | Spaceflight & Spacecraft
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