Image of darkness and light shows new stars being born in Lupus 3 nebula

By Georgina Torbet May 19, 2023

A gorgeous new image of a nebular 500 light-years away gives a peek into the process of star formation.

This image from the Dark Energy Camera shows both the dark cloud of Lupus 3 and the shining bright young stars of the nebula Bernes 149. The dark cloud here is essential to the star formation process, as it is a collection of gas and dust which provides the building blocks for new stars to be born. Known as a dark nebula because of its density, Lupus 3 obscures the light of the stars behind it, giving the impression of a swath of black across the starry sky.

The two young, low-mass proto-stars HR 5999 and HR 6000 illuminate nearby dust, creating the reflection nebula Bernes 149. These stars grew out of the dusty dark cloud of Lupus 3, part of a larger complex of as many as nine dark clouds. — The two young, low-mass proto-stars HR 5999 and HR 6000 illuminate nearby dust, creating the reflection nebula Bernes 149. These stars grew out of the dusty dark cloud of Lupus 3, part of a larger complex of as many as nine dark clouds. CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA/ T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab) Image Processing: D. de Martin & M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab)

The other type of nebula shown here, Bernes 149, is a type called a reflection nebula. This is also a cloud of dust and gas, but less dense than the dark nebula. Instead of blocking out light from stars, this cloud reflects that light, making the cloud appear to glow. Unlike emission nebulae, in which the gas actually glows because it is ionized, the reflection nebula isn’t producing light of its own but is still reflecting enough light to be seen.

Within the nebulae, you can see bright points of light which are young stars. Right in the middle of the image are two close-together stars, HR 5999 and HR 6000, which are blue because of their young age. They are just 1 million years old and aren’t yet big or old enough for nuclear fusion to be occurring in their cores. That means they are not yet main sequence stars, but are instead pre-main-sequence stars that glow because of the strong gravity compressing the matter within them, warming it up.

When stars are born and are young, they give off strong stellar winds which blow away dust and gas from around them. That prevents more stars from being born nearby, which creates an equilibrium to keep the number of new stars being born in balance. Studying sites of star formation like these nebulae can help astronomers learn more about this process and about the early stages of the stellar life cycle.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Tech News

Georgina Torbet

Space Writer

Georgina is the Digital Trends space writer, covering human space exploration, planetary science, and cosmology. She…

Space

Hubble image shows a lonely star glowing over an irregular background galaxy

The bright star BD+17 2217. Arp 263 – also known as NGC 3239 in the foreground and irregular galaxy Arp 263 in the background.

This week's image from the Hubble Space Telescope is notable for the way it was composed as much as for the object it shows. Composed of two different exposures which have been merged, it shows the star BD+17 2217 shining over the background irregular galaxy Arp 263.

Irregular galaxies are those with irregular structures, unlike elliptical galaxies or spiral galaxies such as our Milky Way. Arp 263 is patchy and cloudy, with some areas glowing brightly due to star formation while other areas appear practically bare. Such galaxies are typically formed due to interactions with other galaxies, which can occur when a massive galaxy passes by and pulls the original galaxy out of shape. In the case of Arp 263, it is thought that it developed its irregular shape when two galaxies merged.

Space

This star shredded its companion to create a stunning double-lobed nebula

A billowing pair of nearly symmetrical loops of dust and gas mark the death throes of an ancient red-giant star, as captured by Gemini South, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, operated by NSF’s NOIRLab. The resulting structure, said to resemble an old style of English jug, is a rarely seen bipolar reflection nebula. Evidence suggests that this object formed by the interactions between the dying red giant and a now-shredded companion star. The image was obtained by NOIRLab’s Communication, Education & Engagement team as part of the NOIRLab Legacy Imaging Program.

Nebulae are some of the most beautiful structures to be found in space: vast clouds of dust and gas that are illuminated by light from nearby stars. These regions are often busy sites of star formation, as new stars are born from clumps of dust that collect more material due to gravity. Within the category of nebulae, there are different types such as emission nebulae, where the gases are ionized by radiation and glow brightly, or supernova remnants, which are the structures left behind after massive stars come to the end of their lives and explode.

A recent image captured by NOIRLab's Gemini South telescope shows a rare type of nebula called a bipolar reflection nebula. Known as the Toby Jug Nebula for its similar shape to a traditional English jug, nebula IC 2220 is 1,200 light-years away in the constellation of Carina, or the Keel.

Space

Stunning nebula 15,000 light-years away imaged by VLT Survey Telescope

This spectacular picture of the Sh2-284 nebula has been captured in great detail by the VLT Survey Telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory. Sh2-284 is a star formation region, and at its centre there is a cluster of young stars, dubbed Dolidze 25. The radiation from this cluster is powerful enough to ionise the hydrogen gas in the nebula’s cloud. It is this ionisation that produces its bright orange and red colours.

A gorgeous new image of a distant nebula has been captured by the European Southern Observatory (ESO)'s VLT Survey Telescope. It shows part of the Sh2-284 nebula, a rarely imaged but stunning cloud of dust and gas located a massive 15,000 light-years away from Earth.

This nebula is a busy region of star formation, known as a stellar nursery, where young stars are born from swirls of dust and gas. As this matter moves around it forms into small clumps, which gradually grow and gather more material until they have enough gravity to attract material to them, becoming the seed of a new star. As these bright young stars are born they illuminate the dust and gas around them, creating the glowing nebula effect.