Making a Spectacle of Star Formation in Orion

Författare/Upphovsman:

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Kreditera:

Spitzer

Kort länk:

https://sewiki.info/b/486d8

Källa:

Wikimedia Commons

Upplösning:

2048 x 3250 Pixel (2113044 Bytes)

Beskrivning:

Looking like a pair of eyeglasses only a rock star would wear, this nebula brings into focus a murky region of star formation.

Best known as Messier 78, the two round greenish nebulae are actually cavities carved out of the surrounding dark dust clouds. The extended dust is mostly dark, even to Spitzer's view, but the edges show up in mid-wavelength infrared light as glowing red frames surrounding the bright interiors.

The light from young, newborn stars are starting to carve out cavities within the dust, and eventually, this will become a larger nebula.

A string of baby stars that have yet to burn their way through their natal shells can be seen as red pinpoints on the outside of the nebula. Eventually these will blossom into their own glowing balls, turning this two-eyed eyeglass into a many-eyed monster of a nebula.

Licens:

Public domain