Hubble Movies Provide Unprecedented View of Supersonic Jets from Young Stars [HD Video]
AUGUST 31, 2011: A team of scientists has collected enough high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope images over a 14-year period to stitch together time-lapse movies of powerful jets ejected from three young stars.
The jets, a byproduct of gas accretion around newly forming stars, shoot off at supersonic speeds in opposite directions through space. These phenomena are providing clues about the final stages of a star’s birth, offering a peek at how our Sun came into existence 4.5 billion years ago. Hubble’s unprecedented sharpness allows astronomers to see changes in the jets over just a few years’ time. Most astronomical processes change over timescales that are much longer than a human lifetime.
Caption: A long jet of material has burst out of a dark cloud of gas and dust that hides the newly formed star. The blue, fan-shaped region on the left is the edge of a cavity illuminated by the fledgling star. A massive clump of jet material collides with upstream gas, creating the white bow-shaped shock wave on the right.
To read more go to: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/supersonic-jets...
Credit: NASA, ESA, P. Hartigan (Rice University), and G. Bacon (STScI)
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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Hubble Movies Provide Unprecedented View of Supersonic Jets from Young Stars [HD Video]
AUGUST 31, 2011: A team of scientists has collected enough high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope images over a 14-year period to stitch together time-lapse movies of powerful jets ejected from three young stars.
The jets, a byproduct of gas accretion around newly forming stars, shoot off at supersonic speeds in opposite directions through space. These phenomena are providing clues about the final stages of a star’s birth, offering a peek at how our Sun came into existence 4.5 billion years ago. Hubble’s unprecedented sharpness allows astronomers to see changes in the jets over just a few years’ time. Most astronomical processes change over timescales that are much longer than a human lifetime.
Caption: A long jet of material has burst out of a dark cloud of gas and dust that hides the newly formed star. The blue, fan-shaped region on the left is the edge of a cavity illuminated by the fledgling star. A massive clump of jet material collides with upstream gas, creating the white bow-shaped shock wave on the right.
To read more go to: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/supersonic-jets...
Credit: NASA, ESA, P. Hartigan (Rice University), and G. Bacon (STScI)
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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Like us on Facebook
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