This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals new secrets of star birth as revealed in a pair of eerie spectacular jet of gas the star has ejected by a young star.
[top] - Tip to tip, this jet spans slightly more than a light-year. The fountainhead of this structure – the young star – lies midway between the jet, and is hidden from view behind a dark cloud of dust. The nearly symmetrical blobs of gas at either end are where the jet has slammed into interstellar gas.
[bottom left] - A close-up of a region near the star reveals a string of glowing clumps of gas, ejected by the star in machine-gun like burst fashion. This provides new clues to the dynamics of the star formation process. The jets are ejected from a whirlpool of gas and dust orbiting the young star.
[bottom right] - This arrowhead structure is a classic bowshock pattern produced when high-speed material encounters a slower-speed medium. Young stellar jets were discovered 20 years ago, in part due to visible- light observations of bright patches of nebulosity (called Herbig-Haro objects), which appear to be moving away from associated protostars.
The picture was taken with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. HH-1/ HH-2 lies 1,500 light-years away in the constellation Orion.
Credits
J. Hester (Arizona State University), the WFPC 2 Investigation Definition Team, and NASA| About The Object | |
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| Object Name | HH-1/HH-2 |
| About The Object | |
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| 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 |
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| 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. |
