Sharpless 101 (
Sh2-101) is a
H II region[1]emission nebula located in the constellation
Cygnus. It is sometimes also called the
Tulip Nebula because it appears to resemble the outline of a
tulip when imaged photographically. It was catalogued by astronomer
Stewart Sharpless in his 1959 catalog of nebulae. It lies at a distance of about 6,000
light-years (5.7×1016 km; 3.5×1016 mi) from
Earth.Sh2-101, at least in the field seen from Earth, is in close proximity to
microquasarCygnus X-1, site of one of the first suspected
black holes. Cygnus X-1 is located about 15
′ west of Sh2-101. The companion star of Cygnus X-1 is a spectral class O9.7 Iab supergiant with a mass of 21 solar masses and 20 times the radius of the Sun. The period of the binary system is 5.8 days and the pair is separated by 0.2 astronomical units. The black hole has a mass of 15 solar masses and a Schwarzschild radius of 45 km. A bow shock is created by a jet of energetic particles from the black hole as they interact with the interstellar medium. It can be seen as an arc at the top of the photo on the left.
All datasets acquired with Moana from DSO (Dark Sky remote Observatory), near Fort Davis, TX, USA.
the Moana Project
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