Technology
Nasa reveals dramatic image of star having ‘stellar tantrum’
NASA’S Hubble Space Telescope caught a stunning image of an infant star.
The US space agency on Friday shared the image of the celestial object on its website.
Nasa captured an image of a young star having a “stellar tantrum”
In the image, streaks of energy that appeared pink in color could be seen shooting out of the baby star, designated HH34.
Nasa described the star, which is in its easiest phase of formation, as having a “stellar tantrum.”
In actuality, this tantrum comprises incandescent jets of gas traveling from the star at supersonic speeds.
“As the jet collides with material surrounding the still-forming star, the shock heats this material and causes it to glow,” Nasa said.
“The result is the colorfully wispy structures, which astronomers refer to as Herbig–Haro objects, billowing across the lower right of this image,” the US space agency added.
Herbig–Haro objects are known for evolving and changing significantly in the course of just a few years.
Hubble has previously photographed HH34 between 1994 and 2007, and again in 2015.
The star is located approximately 1,250 light-years from Earth in the Orion Nebula.
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The Orion Nebula is one of the most observed regions for star formation by astronomers, given its close proximity to Earth.
This specific image was taken with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 and is part of a set of observations of four nearby bright jets.
The images were taken “to help pave the way for future science with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope,” Nasa stated.
Webb, which was launched in space this past Christmas Day, will be observing still-forming protostars to get insight into how stars are born and continue to grow.
“Hubble’s high-resolution images of HH34 and other jets will help astronomers interpret future observations with Webb,” the agency noted.
