![]() The energy from the nearby stars is insufficient to ionize the gas of the nebula to create an emission nebula, but is enough to give sufficient scattering to make the dust visible. The presence of this high velocity gas is evidence that the dust clouds in Messier 78 are actively forming stars, ESO officials said.įollow for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter and on Facebook. In astronomy, reflection nebulae are clouds of interstellar dust which might reflect the light of a nearby star or stars. These winds come from young stars as they are still forming from the surrounding clouds of dust. Studying these clouds of dust also reveals fast-moving gas flowing out of these dusty clumps. ![]() Since the dark lane of dust cannot be found in the corresponding location in the visible light image, scientists can tell that this region of dust must lie behind the nebula. ![]() In visible light, these veils of dust are dark and opaque, which is why telescopes such as APEX are critical for studying the dusty regions where stars are born.Ī filament seen by APEX appears in visible light images as a dark ribbon that cuts across the nebula, which means the dense dust lies in front of the Messier 78, blocking its glowing blue light, according to officials at the European Southern Observatory.Īnother region of glowing dust seen by APEX overlaps with the visible light from Messier 78 at its lower edge. The telescope is sensitive to longer wavelengths, revealing the gentle glow of dense, frigid clumps of dust. The observations from APEX are overlaid on the visible-light image in orange. The lower regions of the image contain mostly low-mass young stars. This star is located in the brightest peak seen in the APEX observations, ESO officials said. This nebula contains a massive young star that is estimated to be five times the mass of the sun. In the newly released image, another reflection nebula, called NGC 2071, can be seen at the top.
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