These images taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope show how a bright, clumpy jet ejected from a young star has changed over time.
The jet, called Herbig-Haro 34 (or HH 34), is a signpost of star birth. Several bright regions in the lumpy gas signify where material is slamming into each other, heating up, and glowing. The images show that a couple of bright areas on the right faded over time, as heated material cooled (shown in red). Two regions at left, however, brightened over the 14-year span of observations, pinpointing fresh collision sites. The blue fan-shaped feature at left outlines the edge of the outflow cavity, illuminated by the fledgling star. A small knot of material within the blue feature is either a new jet or magnetic energy being emitted by the star.
Ejected episodically by a young star like salvos from a cannon, the blobby material in HH 34 zips along at more than 440,000 miles (700,000 kilometers) an hour. When launched, the speedy jet may initially be confined to a narrow beam by the star's powerful magnetic field.
These images are part of a series of time-lapse movies astronomers have made showing the motion of several Herbig-Haro jets over time. The movies were stitched together from images taken over a 14-year period by Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. Hubble followed the HH 34 jets over three epochs: 1994, 1998, and 2007.
HH 34 is roughly 1,350 light-years from Earth, near the Orion Nebula.
Credits
NASA, ESA, and P. Hartigan (Rice University)| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | HH 34 Jet |
| Object Description | Herbig-Haro Object |
| R.A. Position | 05h 35m 30.95s |
| Dec. Position | -6° 28' 37.2" |
| Constellation | Orion |
| Distance | 1,350 light-years (414 parsecs) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The observations of HH 34 are taken from HST proposals: J. Westphal (Caltech), and : B. Reipurth (University of Hawaii), and : P. Haritgan (Rice University). |
| Instrument | HST>WFPC2 |
| Filters | F656N (H-alpha) and F673N ([S II]) |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | This image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by the WFPC2 instrument on HST. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Cyan: F656N (H-alpha) Orange: F673N ([S II]) |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
