“Heavenly Rain”: an etheric structure in the sky comparable to the famous “Pillars of Creation” — Space Photo of the Week

This spectacular image of the Emission Nebula, a cloud of gas and dust illuminated by nearby stars, and a nearby star cluster was released by the Gemini Observatory to commemorate its 25th anniversary.

Reminiscent of the iconic Pillars of Creation image of the Eagle Nebula taken in 1995 by the Hubble Space Telescope and more recently by the James Webb Space Telescope, this commemorative image shows the emission nebula NGC 6820 and the star cluster NGC 6823.

The image, available as a zoomable version online, captures NGC 6823’s hot, massive star, shown as a bluish-white patch of light illuminating the veil of red gas that makes up NGC 6820. The pillars in the image are gas and dust carved by the star’s intense radiation.

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NGC 6820 and NGC 6823 are located in the middle of the Summer Triangle, a famous star created by the bright stars Deneb, Vega, and Altair. When viewed from the Northern Hemisphere, it can be seen low in the western sky just after dark.

In Hawaii, home to the Gemini North Telescope, which began operations in June 1999, the Summer Triangle is known as Manaiakalani (Maui’s Great Fishhook). As part of the image release, four local high school students participating in the University of Hawaii’s Project Hokulani summer internship named it “Ua Ohia Lani,” meaning “Ohia Rain” in heaven.

This image was taken using the Gemini North telescope atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii’s shield volcano, which is home to 13 large telescope observatories. However, the International Gemini Observatory consists of two 8-meter telescopes, the other (Gemini South) located at Cerro Pachón in the Chilean Andes. First light was achieved in November 2000. Combining the two scopes gives astronomers access to nearly the entire night sky.

“This image is deep red, like lava, due to the abundance of hydrogen gas within the nebula,” Hope Arthur, one of Gemini’s interns, said in a statement. The name comes from a story about Pele, the goddess of volcanoes and fire in Hawaiian religion and the creator of the Hawaiian Islands.

“One of Pele’s best-known stories is the story of ‘Ohia and Lehua.’ Their story is about acts of rebirth and new beginnings after tragedy, and we felt it was reminiscent of the cycle of life, death, and rebirth on a star,” Arthur said.

“The baby blue stars in the image reminded us of rain,” added Iolani Sanchez, an intern at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. “It reminded us of the story of ‘Ohia and Lehua,’ where picking a lehua flower brings rain.”

For more sublime space images, check out this week’s space photo archive.