N44 is a complex nebula filled with glowing hydrogen gas, dark lanes of dust, massive stars, and many populations of stars of different ages. One of its most distinctive features, however, is the dark, starry gap called a “superbubble,” visible in this Hubble Space Telescope image in the upper central region.
The hole is about 250 light-years wide and its
presence is still something of a mystery. Stellar winds expelled by massive
stars in the bubble's interior may have driven away the gas, but this is
inconsistent with measured wind velocities in the bubble. Another possibility,
since the nebula is filled with massive stars that would expire in titanic
explosions, is that the expanding shells of old supernovae sculpted the cosmic
cavern.
Astronomers have found one supernova remnant in the
vicinity of the superbubble and identified an approximately 5 million year
difference in age between stars within and at the rim of the superbubble,
indicating multiple, chain-reaction star-forming events. The deep blue area at
about 5 o’clock around the superbubble is one of the hottest regions of the
nebula and the area of the most intense star formation.
N44 is an emission nebula, which means its gas has
been energized, or ionized, by the radiation of nearby stars. As the ionized
gas begins to cool from its higher-energy state to a lower-energy state, it
emits energy in the form of light, causing the nebula to glow. Located in the
Large Magellanic Cloud, N44 spans about 1,000 light-years and is about 170,000
light-years away from Earth.
Image credit: NASA,
ESA, V. Ksoll and D. Gouliermis (Universität Heidelberg), et al.; Processing:
Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
Source: Mysterious
“Superbubble” Hollows Out Nebula in New Hubble Image | NASA
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