About this Image:  

No, this isn't a Hubble shot.  But this image was acquired and processed just like the gorgeous Hubble telescope images that we've come to love.  To accomplish this, the image was taken through specialized, narrowband emission line filters.  This information was then "mapped" to the traditional red, green, and blue channels of an RGB image.  The greenish portions of the image represent Hydrogen-alpha ionized gases., the bluish color represents doubly ionized Oxygen gases, and the reddish areas represent singly ionized Sulfur gases.  While the stars glow heavily in the sulfur wavelength, there is only a light concentration of it in the nebula, mostly throughout the brighter portions.

Such images, while obviously beautiful, have a real scientific purpose. Because the colors are mapped specifically to certain gases, it's easy to understand the concentrations of ionizations and how (where) they interact with each other.

Named NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for March 24, 2006...coined, "When Roses Aren't Red."  See it <here> on APOD.

To see this same data in CFHT-mapped colors, click <here>
For NGC 2244 in regular RGB, click <here>