Nestled among the vast clouds of star-forming regions like this one lie potential clues about the formation of our own solar system.
This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope
features AFGL 5180, a beautiful stellar nursery located in the constellation
of Gemini (the Twins).
At the center of the image, a massive star is forming
and blasting cavities through the clouds with a pair of powerful jets,
extending to the top right and bottom left of the image. Light from this star
is mostly escaping and reaching us by illuminating these cavities, like a
lighthouse beacon piercing the storm clouds.
Stars are born in dusty environments and although this
dust makes for spectacular images, it can prevent astronomers from seeing stars
embedded in it. Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) instrument is
designed to capture detailed images in both visible and infrared light, meaning
that the young stars hidden in vast star-forming regions like AFGL 5180 can be
seen much more clearly.
Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. C. Tan
(Chalmers University & University of Virginia), R. Fedriani (Chalmers
University); Acknowledgment: Judy Schmidt
Text Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)
Source: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/star-formation-in-the-constellation-of-gemini-the-twins
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