Trifid Nebula<\/a> was discovered by the French astronomer Charles Messier on June 5, 1764.<\/p>\nAlso known as Messier 20, M20 or NGC 6514, the nebula lies in the constellation of Sagittarius.<\/p>\n
The distance to the object is debatable, but estimates range broadly from 2,200 to 9,000 light-years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe colors in Hubble\u2019s visible light image of this shimmering region of star-formation are reminiscent of an underwater scene filled with fine-grained sediments fluttering through the ocean\u2019s depths,\u201d the Hubble astronomers said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeveral massive stars, which are outside this field of view, have shaped this region for at least 300,000 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir powerful ultraviolet winds continue to blow an enormous bubble, a small portion of which is shown here, that pushes and compresses the cloud\u2019s gas and dust, triggering new waves of star formation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t the first time Hubble has gazed at this scene,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe telescope observed the Trifid in 1997 and now, 29 years later, it has leveraged almost its full operational lifetime to show us changes in the nebula on human time scales.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy look at the same location again? In addition to seeing changes over time, Hubble is also equipped with an improved camera with a wider field of view and greater sensitivity that was installed during the fourth servicing mission.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hubble\u2019s view of the Trifid Nebula focuses on a \u2018head\u2019 and undulating \u2018body\u2019 of a rusty-colored cloud that resembles a marine sea lemon, or sea slug, that appears as if it is gliding through the cosmos.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Cosmic Sea Lemon\u2019s left \u2018horn\u2019 is part of Herbig-Haro 399, a jet of plasma periodically ejected over centuries by a young protostar embedded in the head of the sea lemon,\u201d the astronomers said.<\/p>\n
\u201cChanges observed allow researchers to measure the speeds of the outflows and determine how much energy the protostar is injecting into these regions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe measurements will provide insights into how newly formed stars interact with their surroundings.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo the immediate lower right is evidence of the counter jet: jagged orange and red lines that \u2018run\u2019 down the back of the sea lemon\u2019s neck, where a natural V appears in the brown dust.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe darker, more triangular \u2018horn\u2019 on the right of the \u2018head\u2019 hosts another young star at its tip.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe green arc above a faint red dot with a tiny jet may be evidence that a circumstellar disk is being eroded by the intense ultraviolet light from nearby massive stars.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe clearer the area around this protostar suggests it may be almost finished forming.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo the immediate left of the Cosmic Sea Lemon is a small, faint pillar,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n
\u201cMuch of this pillar\u2019s gas and dust has been blown away, but the densest material at the top persists.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStreaks and sharp lines offer more clues about other young stars\u2019 activities.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSpy an example by looking near the center for a rippling angled line that begins in a bright orange and ends in a blazing red.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the top of the Cosmic Sea Lemon\u2019s head, bright yellow gas streams upward.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an example of ultraviolet light plowing into the dark brown dust, stripping and dismantling the gas and dust.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMany ridges and slopes of dark brown material will remain for a few million years, as the stars\u2019 ultraviolet light slowly eats away at the gas.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe densest areas are home to protostars, which are obscured in visible light.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe far-right corner is nearly pitch black. This is where the dust is the densest. The stars that appear here may not be part of this star-forming region \u2014 they might be closer to us, in the foreground.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, scan the scene for bright orange orbs. These stars have fully formed, clearing the space around them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOver millions of years, the nebula\u2019s gas and dust that make up the nebula will disappear \u2014 and only stars will remain.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new anniversary image from the NASA\/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals surprisingly fast evolution in a turbulent stellar…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[48225,179781,10805,131129,179782,5621,61,60,23234,13811,179783,91,13923,179784,56209,82,9315,31710,179785],"class_list":{"0":"post-409065","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-cosmic-jet","9":"tag-cosmic-sea-lemon","10":"tag-esa","11":"tag-herbig-haro-object","12":"tag-hh-399","13":"tag-hubble","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-jet","17":"tag-m20","18":"tag-messier-20","19":"tag-nasa","20":"tag-nebula","21":"tag-ngc-6514","22":"tag-protostar","23":"tag-science","24":"tag-star","25":"tag-star-formation","26":"tag-trifid-nebula"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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