Hubble captures stunning image of star-forming Prawn Nebula
Highlights
- The nebula emits light primarily in wavelengths the human eye cannot detect.
- The radiation from these massive stars strips electrons from the nebula's hydrogen atoms.
- The image was captured as part of a survey of massive- and intermediate-size "protostars".
The Hubble Space Telescope has captured a stunning view of the Prawn Nebula floating through deep space. The Prawn Nebula is a massive stellar nursery located in the constellation Scorpius, about 6,000 light-years from Earth.
Though the nebula stretches 250 light-years and covers a space four times the size of the full moon, it emits light primarily in wavelengths the human eye cannot detect, making it extremely faint to earthbound viewers.
"Hubble's gaze shows a small section of the nebula in both visible and invisible infrared light, capturing dazzling detail of the nebula's structure, including bright areas of glowing gas," NASA said in a statement.
The Prawn Nebula, also known as IC 4628, is an emission nebula, which means its gas has been energised, or ionised, by the radiation of nearby stars.
The radiation from these massive stars strips electrons from the nebula's hydrogen atoms. As the energised electrons revert from their higher-energy state to a lower-energy state by recombining with hydrogen nuclei, they emit energy in the form of light, causing the nebula's gas to glow.
The Hubble Space Telescope image was captured as part of a survey of massive- and intermediate-size "protostars," or newly forming stars.
Astronomers used the infrared sensitivity of Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 to look for hydrogen ionized by ultraviolet light ionised by the protostars, jets from the stars, and other features.
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