Leaving on a jet

Esahubble_potw2340a_1024

esahubble_potw2340a October 2nd, 2023

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Fedriani, J. Tan

This spectacular image shows a region called G35.2-0.7N, which is known as a hotbed of high-mass star formation. The kind of stars that form here are so massive that they will end their lives as destructive supernovae. However, even as they form they greatly impact their surroundings. At least one B-type star — the second most massive type — lurks within the region pictured here, and a powerful protostellar jet that it is launching towards us is the source of the spectacular light show. The image was taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), which is mounted on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, and the region G35.2-0.7N lies around 7200 light-years from Earth in the constellation Aquila. This beautiful picture was assembled using data that were collected primarily for very specific research purposes, as are many of the Hubble Pictures of the Week. The research conducted using these data included measuring the extent of ionisation in the jets being blasted out of the protostar buried within G35.2-0.7N. Ionisation is a process by which atoms or molecules become charged, often because they are in such a high-energy environment that they have lost some of their electrons (the tiny negatively charged particles that orbit nuclei in atoms and molecules). Protostellar jets are enormous collimated beams of matter that are ejected from protostars. Collimated simply means that the matter is ejected in parallel (column-like) streams, which in turn means that the jets do not spread out much, but extend out very far in relatively straight lines. The visual result of the ejected matter is the glorious display visible in this image. Much of the nebula is dark, with light being blocked from Hubble’s view by the rich dust clouds that produce these massive stars. Near the very centre can be seen the location of the star and the jet of material it is emitting. The small, bright orange streak there is a cavity in the dust carved out by the ferocity of the jet as it streams towards us. By breaking through its dusty cocoon, the jet reveals light from the protostar, but there is still so much dust that the light is “reddened” to a fiery orange. The massive protostar lies at the very lower-left tip of this cavity. [Image Description: A nebula with stars. Dense clouds of dust and gas cover the left-hand side and a filament crosses the centre horizontally. Billowing streams of gas and dust in various colours emerge from around the centre. The very centre of the image is permeated with glowing orange regions. Many blue stars with cross-shaped spikes lie in the foreground, and small point-like stars are visible beyond the clouds.] Links Pan: Leaving on a jet

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://esahubble.org/images/potw2340a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Baltimore, MD, United States

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Stellar Evolution
Esahubble_potw2340a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 18h 58m 12.5s
DEC = 1° 40’ 36.2”
Orientation
North is 55.3° CW
Field of View
2.0 x 2.3 arcminutes
Constellation
Aquila

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue Hubble (WFC3) Infrared (YJ) 1.1 µm
Cyan Hubble (WFC3) Infrared (Paschen ß) 1.3 µm
Green Hubble (WFC3) Infrared (H) 1.6 µm
Red Hubble (WFC3) Infrared (Fe II) 1.6 µm
Spectrum_base
Blue
Cyan
Green
Red
Esahubble_potw2340a_1280
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ID
potw2340a
Subject Category
Subject Name
Stellar Evolution
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Fedriani, J. Tan
Release Date
2023-10-02T06:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://esahubble.org/images/potw2340a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
WFC3, WFC3, WFC3, WFC3
Color Assignment
Blue, Cyan, Green, Red
Band
Infrared, Infrared, Infrared, Infrared
Bandpass
YJ, Paschen ß, H, Fe II
Central Wavelength
1100, 1280, 1600, 1640
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
None, None, None, None
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
284.5519953833594, 1.6767284998417986
Reference Dimension
954.0, 1057.0
Reference Pixel
477.0, 528.5
Scale
-3.5557117278402036e-05, 3.5557117278402036e-05
Rotation
-55.319999999999979
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
ESA/Hubble
URL
https://esahubble.org
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
ESA Office, Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Dr
City
Baltimore
State/Province
MD
Postal Code
21218
Country
United States
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
potw2340a
Metadata Date
2023-09-20T15:37:54+02:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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