Issue |
A&A
Volume 401, Number 1, April I 2003
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 193 - 196 | |
Section | Interstellar and circumstellar matter | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20021485 | |
Published online | 17 March 2003 |
Fractal structure of the Horsehead nebula (B 33)
Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Calcutta, 92 APC Road, Calcutta 700 009, India
Corresponding author: srabani@cucc.ernet.in
Received:
6
December
2001
Accepted:
5
September
2002
Analysis of the CCD image of the Horsehead nebula (B
33), taken in the H α (6561 Å) using the 2.34 m Vainu
Bappu Telescope (VBT) at Kavalur, India, is performed to test its
fractal structure. Ten sample readings of the box dimension of
this image were taken using a fractal analysis software, giving
an average value of 1.6965725. The sample dimensions were found
to be different from the topological dimension of one.
Importantly, the box dimension of B 33 was not found to be
significantly different from that of the Julia set (box dimension
1.679594) with c = -0.745429 + 0.113008i. This provides
compelling evidence to show that the structure of the Horsehead
nebula is not only fractal, but also that its geometry can be
described by the Julia function = z2 + c, where both z
and c are complex numbers.
Key words: ISM: clouds / ISM: general
© ESO, 2003
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