- NASA’s powerful Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope combined to capture stunning images of the Orion Nebula.
- The nebula, which is a massive mixture of various gases and heated matter surrounding young stars, fired at various wavelengths.
- The image looks like a painting, but it is actually something that exists, that reminds us how beautiful space can be.
Well, the new year is officially here, and while many places that traditionally celebrate the birth of a new 365-day batch have had to cancel their annual fireworks shows, you can always count on NASA to find some fireworks somewhere in the cosmos. In a new blog post, NASA has chosen to highlight an impressive image that is actually a combination of observations made by both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope.
The image is of the Orion Nebula, a massive collection of swirling gases that surround some very young but very large stars. The two telescopes captured the same image at different wavelengths of light, giving us a glimpse of this region of space like we had never seen it before.
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Nebulae are incredibly interesting features of the cosmos, as they are essentially the ingredients that make up stellar systems and galaxies, but they have not yet fully combined into objects like planets and stars. In this case, the Orion Nebula has already given birth to a small number of stars, but they are very young.
NASA explains:
Hydrogen, sulfur, and hydrocarbon swirls cradle a collection of children’s stars in this composite image of the Orion Nebula, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope. Together, the two telescopes expose carbon-rich molecules to the cosmic cloud of this star-forming factory located 1,500 light-years away.
Hubble’s ultraviolet and visible light vision reveals hydrogen and sulfur gas that have been heated and ionized by the intense ultraviolet radiation from massive stars, collectively known as the “trapeze.” Meanwhile, Spitzer’s infrared vision exposes carbon-rich molecules to the cloud. Together, the telescopes expose the stars of Orion while a dotted rainbow spreads throughout the image.
It is impossible to say what the next billion years will bring, but if the nebula remains intact by external forces, it will likely continue to form stars and potentially planets, moons and asteroids that will orbit them. We cannot know how much material is actually present there or what kind of planets and stars it may produce in the future, but for now it remains a very interesting area of the sky.
Studying areas like this and the Orion Nebula, in particular, has offered scientists some powerful insights into the forces that build the objects we see in the cosmos. It will continue to be observed for many years, decades, and perhaps even centuries to come, and there will probably be much more to end up teaching us.
Mike Wehner has reported on technology and video games over the past decade, addressing the latest developments and trends in VR, portable devices, smartphones and future technology. Most recently, Mike worked as a technical editor at The Daily Dot and has appeared on USA Today, Time.com and countless other web and print outlets. His love of reporting is only second to his addiction to games.