Astronomers using the NASA / ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured an outstanding image of J025027.7 + 600849 (J0250 for short), a rare type of star nursery embedded within a nearby massive star-forming region.
This Hubble image shows the floating evaporation gas cell J025027.7 + 600849. The color image is made up of observations from the Hubble Advanced Survey Camera (ACS) in the parts of the spectrum and near infrared. Three filters were used to sample various wavelengths. Color results from assigning different tones to each monochrome image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / R. Sahai.
J0250 is approximately 6,000 light years distant in the Cassiopeia constellation.
This object resides in the open star cluster IC 1848, which, in turn, is embedded within the Westerhout 5 emission nebula.
J0250 belongs to the recently discovered star-forming nursery class called floating evaporation gas cells (frEGG).
“When a massive new star, or stars, begins to shine while still within the cold molecular cloud from which it formed, its energetic radiation can ionize the cloud’s hydrogen and create a large hot bubble of ionized gas,” he said. the astronomer Hubble.
“Surprisingly, within this hot gas bubble around a nearby massive star are the frEGGs – dark, compact globules of dust and gas, some of which are also giving rise to low-mass stars.”
“The boundary between the cold, dusty frEGG and the hot gas bubble looks like the bright purple / blue edges in this new Hubble image.”
“Learning more about these strange objects can help astronomers understand how stars like our Sun form under external influences,” they noted.
“In fact, our Sun may have even been born in a frEGG.”
