Image via ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Sahai
NASA has released a hi-res image from its Hubble Space Telescope showing a gaseous “stellar nursery,” where shimmering stars come to form..
The gorgeous image depicts the Free-floating Evaporating Gaseous Globule (frEGGs), also known as compact pockets of dense gas, surrounded by a bubble of hot ionized gas, wherein low-mass stars are born.
The space agency noted that the purple and blue hues distinguish the cooler globules from the hotter gas bubble. There are also stars being formed inside the frEGGS, which is why it is termed as “stellar nursery.”
“When a massive new star starts to shine while still within the cool molecular cloud from which it formed, its energetic radiation can ionize the cloud’s hydrogen and create a large, hot bubble of ionized gas,” NASA explained.
View the stunning image below.
[via
Mashable, cover image via
ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Sahai]