Brightness of a reflection nebula illuminated by a blue star born in a dark nebula | Sorae Portal site to the universe

The “interstellar space” that is spread among the stars is not an empty void, but contains interstellar gas and interstellar dust. These gases and dust, collectively known as the interstellar medium, are not evenly distributed, and the denser regions of the surrounding regions are called “dark nebulae”.

As the name suggests, dark nebulae themselves cannot be seen with the visible light that humans can perceive. Observations using infrared and radio waves, which have wavelengths longer than visible light, have revealed that dark nebulae contain different particles. Therefore, dark nebulae are also called “molecular clouds”.

This image shows the dark nebula Lupus 3 about 500 light-years away in the direction of Lupus in the southern sky.

Two blue stars (HR 5999 and HR 6000) shine in the center of 3 Lupus. The two stars illuminate gas and dust blue, called Reflection Nebula Bernes 149, and together with 3 Lupus create a stunning spectacle. A reflection nebula is, as its name suggests, a nebula that lights up by reflecting the star’s light rather than emitting its own light.

The substances (molecules) in the constellation 3 leprechauns will be the ones that create new stars. HR 5999 and HR 6000 also originated and grew within Libra 3. Still a million years old, the two stars are pre-main sequence stars of a type called “T-type Taurus stars,” the precursor to main sequence stars like the Sun. Despite their brightness, the two stars still do not glow from the energy of nuclear fusion as the Sun does, but from contracting and heating under their own gravity.

During the T Tauri star formation process, strong stellar winds spew out gas and dust. Burns 149 was created from those remains. Thus, 3 Lupus is an active star-forming region, providing knowledge about the formation of stars such as protostars.

This image is from the wide-field Dark Energy Camera (DECam) installed on the Victor M. Blanco 4-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, NOIRLab. was taken in

Lupus 3 is one of at least nine dark nebulae that form a complex collection of molecular clouds, said to be spread out over an extent equivalent to the apparent diameter of 24 full moons. By combining DECam’s wide field of view with the light-gathering capabilities of Blanco’s 4-meter telescope, a sharp, high-resolution image of the constellation 3 was obtained.

Finally, here’s a zoomed-in video of Lupus 3 and Barnes 149.

source

• Image credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA/TA Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab); Processing: D. de Martin & M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab)
• Video credit: NOIRLabAstro
• NOIRLab – Radiant protostars and shadow clouds clash in Stellar’s nursery

Sentence / Tetsurou Yoshida