NGC 2174: Visible 2D Zoom and Infrared 3D Reveal

This video showcases visible and infrared light views of a collection of pillars along the edge of the star-forming region NGC 2174. The sequence begins with a view of the night sky near the constellation of Gemini and Orion. The view zooms through observations from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 to reveal a Hubble Space Telescope visible light view of the top of this region of pillars.

A cross-fade transitions not only between Hubble's visible and infrared light views, but also from a two-dimensional image to a three-dimensional sculpted model of the region. The camera then pulls back to reveal the landscape of evaporating peaks of gas and dust surrounded by stars. Note that the visualization is intended to be a reasonable interpretation (not scientifically accurate) and that distances within the model are significantly compressed.