A set of new still images collected by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope show in unprecedented detail the jets of glowing gas ejected from young stars.
The phenomenon provides clues to the process out of which a star is born, probably giving a peek at how our sun came into existence 4.5 billion years ago, NASA said Wednesday.
“The jets are a byproduct of gas accretion around newly forming stars and shoot off at supersonic speeds of about 100 miles per second in opposite directions through space.”
One of the premier space science observatories, Hubble has been astounding scientists with deeply beautiful imagery. Its discoveries in the last 21 years have revolutionized nearly all areas of astronomical research from planetary science to cosmology. It has captured nebulae of different shapes and astonished scientists with galaxies' images thousands of light years away.
The newly released Hubble images were captured over 14 years and show never-before-seen details in the jets' structure, according to scientists.
Latest Hubble pictures here show the jets and the stellar birth process:
The glowing, clumpy streams of material shown in these NASA Hubble Space Telescope images are the signposts of star birth. Called Herbig-Haro or HH objects, these outflows speed along at over 440,000 miles an hour. When they "rear-end" slower gas, bow shocks (the blue features) arise as the material heats up. In HH 2 (lower right) several bow shocks (the compact blue and white features) occur where fast-moving clumps bunch up. In HH 34 (lower left) a grouping of merged bow shocks reveals regions that brighten and fade over time as the heated material cools, shown in red, where the shocks intersect. In HH 47 (top) a long jet of material has burst out of a dark cloud of gas and dust that hides the newly forming star.NASA/ESA/P. Hartigan (Rice UniA close-up view of the long jet of material has burst out of a dark cloud of gas and dust that hides the newly forming star.NASA/ESA/P. Hartigan (Rice UniNASA’s Hubble Space Telescope saw how a bright, clumpy jet called Herbig-Haro 34 (or HH 34) that was ejected from a young star has changed over time. Several bright regions in the lumpy gas signify where material is slamming into each other, heating up, and glowing. Red areas indicate where heated material cooled. Two regions at left, indicate fresh collision sites. A small knot of material within the blue feature (left) is either a new jet or magnetic energy being emitted by the star.NASA/ESA/P. Hartigan (Rice UniA grouping of merged bow shocks reveals regions that brighten and fade over time as the heated material cools, shown in red, where the shocks intersect.NASA/ESA/P. Hartigan (Rice UniBritish Astronomers Develop New Giant Telescope to Hunt For Life on Other GalaxiesNASA/ESA/P. Hartigan (Rice UniNumerous small knots known as Herbig-Haro (HH) objects, labeled in white on the illustration, are signatures of recently formed stars ejecting material into space. The three HH objects labeled in green have been the subjects of intense study by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope over several years, resulting in a better understanding of how the material ejected from stars interacts with the surrounding medium. A few of the brighter stars in the image are labeled in yellow.Z. Levay (STScI), T.A. RectorNew Cosmic Images from Hubble Telescope Offers a Peek at Sun’s BirthNASA/ESA/P. Hartigan (Rice Uni