Life and death captured in cosmic superbubble
Stellar snapshot A spectacular new image of a cosmic superbubble in a nearby galaxy is giving scientists a glimpse of the birth and death of young stars and solar systems.
The image captured by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile, shows a giant nebula surrounding a star cluster called NGC-1929, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
The nebula, officially known as LHA-120-N-44, measures 325 by 250 light-years across.
The picture is made up of three photographs taken at different wave lengths. This allows scientists to study the effects of individual elements emitting light inside the nebula and see structures that wouldn't otherwise be visible.
Dr Fred Watson from the Australian Astronomical Observatory says we're seeing the birth and death of stars and solar systems in a single snapshot.
"Hot young stars are emitting intense ultraviolet light, which causes the surrounding gas to glow," says Watson.
"The red comes from the emission of hydrogen, while the pink and purple are helium and oxygen."
"It shows where a lot of the interesting physics and chemistry is taking place."
Watson says the bubble is formed by two forces.
"First, there are powerful stellar winds generated by the nursery of young stars clustered near the centre of the structure. These winds blow away gas and dust carving out a cavity in the interstellar medium," he says.
"Secondly, some of these young stars have very short lives, dying in spectacular supernovae explosions which further push out the walls of the bubble."
"One thing clearly visible is the massive amount of turbulence taking place with twisted knots of subatomic material tearing into the interstellar medium."
Watson says the darker regions are probably dust. "There are areas around the edge of the bubble where active star formation is taking place. In fact there's one part of the bubble where you can see a knot of bright youthful stars and possibly new solar systems being born."
"All of this information comes from what looks at first sight like just a pretty picture".