Hubble shows autumn colors in space in this image of a nebula glowing orange from hot young stars
A new image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the nebula in “autumn colors.” It is part of a nebula known as Westerhout 5, located 7,000 light-years from Earth and also known as the “Soul Nebula.”
It is an emission nebula—its colors and shapes are created by ionized gas illuminated by bright, hot stars.
Hubble shows autumn colors in space in this image of a nebula glowing orange from hot young stars
When very massive stars are born and emit intense radiation and streams of particles, they “blow out” nearby material, which prevents stars from forming too close to each other. This creates cavities within the nebula, and between these cavities the gas is compressed and new stars will form in these denser regions.
The feature of this image is the dark area at the top, called the evaporating gas globule (Gregg). This dense pocket of gas is more resistant to ionization of the gas around it, creating an “incubator” of sorts from which new stars can be born.
The most famous example of such globules is in the famous “Pillars of Creation” image, also created by Hubble, where these pockets of dense gas appear to the observer as bulges on the pillars of the nebula.
