Hubble Captures Infant Stars Transforming a Nebula

 The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has once again dazzled the world with its latest image, capturing the stunning transformation of a nebula by infant stars. This captivating image presents RCW 7, a nebula located just over 5,300 light-years away in the constellation Puppis.

This striking NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the nebula RCW 7.

ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Tan (Chalmers University & University of Virginia), R. Fedriani

• Nebulae, rich with the raw materials needed for star formation, are where the magic begins. Under gravity’s influence, parts of these molecular clouds collapse and coalesce into very young stars, known as protostars. These protostars, still enveloped in spinning discs of leftover gas and dust, are massive and emit strongly ionizing radiation and stellar winds. This powerful radiation transforms the nebula into an H II region, filled with hydrogen ions that emit a soft pinkish glow.

• The image, taken with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 in near-infrared light, focuses on a particularly massive protostellar binary named IRAS 07299-1651. Despite the presence of many foreground stars not part of the nebula, the image beautifully showcases the glowing cocoon of gas and the curling clouds surrounding the massive protostars.

Source:- AI generated

• H II regions signify the beginning of the end for a molecular cloud like RCW 7. Within a few million years, the radiation and winds from massive stars will disperse the nebula’s gas. Only a fraction of this gas will form new stars, with the rest spreading throughout the galaxy to form new molecular clouds.

By:- Ranjan
#Hubble, #NASA, #Astronomy, #Nebula, #Stars, #SpaceExploration, #CosmicWonder, #ESA, #HubbleTelescope,