Zooming on a small corner of the cloud 7,500 light-years away, the Hubble Space Telescope has captured an interesting phase in the evolution of Baby Stars.
It is called J025157.5 + 600606, and is the only (relatively) small bulge in the giant Soul Nebula (also known as Westerhaut 5) in the constellation Cassiopeia.
But, while the cloud section seems important in the vast nebula complex associated with it, it is an excellent place to learn about the birth of new stars.
This is because J025157.5 + 600606 shows what is known as frigid – free-floating evaporation gas globules.
Frigids were only recently discovered, and they need a specific set of conditions.
Where you can find J025157.5 + 600606. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA)
In the vast clouds of stellar nurseries the stars form from the cool clusters of ganse molecular hydrogen falling under their own gravity, so stars are born by building nests in thick, atomic clouds.
When a very large, hot star begins to shine, their intense ultraviolet radiation ionizes their birth cloud, forming a large, hot bubble of ionized gas called a straggren sphere.
Frig is a ga ense cluster of clustered cooler gases in the Straögren region, and many of them are busy forming their own stars.
The boundary between the fridge and the sphere is seen in Hubble’s image as a glowing purple region as heat from a nearby star illuminates the outer layer of gas.
Losing this density means that we can look inside and see new baby stars being born.
J 025157.5 + 600606. (ESA / Hubble and NASA, R. Assistance)
Because frigi are very ga ense, this process does not stop the formation that takes place inside the star. But it eventually disrupts it, cutting off the gas supply that will feed the star inside.
For this reason, stars born inside a frigid are relatively small compared to O- and B-type stars, which evaporate their gas.
That’s not a bad thing though. Smaller and coolest stars have a much longer lifespan than their chonky siblings. It is also possible that billions of years ago, our sun was born this way.
You can view the full-size image of J025157.5 + 600606 and download the wallpapers size on the Hubble Space Telescope website.
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