Stellar nurseries tagged posts

An international team of researchers has uncovered what might be a critical step in the chemical evolution of molecules in cosmic “stellar nurseries.” In these vast clouds of cold gas and dust in space, trillions of molecules swirl together over millions of years. The collapse of these interstellar clouds eventually gives rise to young stars and planets.

Like human bodies, stellar nurseries contain a lot of organic molecules, which are made up mostly of carbon and hydrogen atoms. The group’s results, published Feb...

This spectacular image from the VLT Survey Telescope shows the Cat’s Paw Nebula (NGC 6334, upper right) and the Lobster Nebula (NGC 6357, lower left). These dramatic objects are regions of active star formation where the hot young stars are causing the surrounding hydrogen gas to glow red. The very rich field of view also includes dark clouds of dust. With around two billion pixels this is one of the largest images ever released by ESO. Credit: ESO

NGC6334 is 5500 light-years away from Earth, while NGC6357 is more remote, at 8000 light-years. Both are in the constellation of Scorpius (The Scorpion), near the tip of its stinging tail...

Herschel’s view of the Eagle Nebula. Credit: ESA/Herschel/PACS, SPIRE/Hi-GAL Project Herschel’s view of the Galactic Plane. Credit: ESA/Herschel/PACS, SPIRE/Hi-GAL Project

ESA’s Herschel mission releases today a series of unprecedented maps of star-forming hubs in the plane of our Milky Way galaxy. This is accompanied by a set of catalogues of hundreds of thousands of compact sources that span all phases leading to the birth of stars in our Galaxy. These maps and catalogues will be valuable resources for astronomers for planning follow-up studies of particularly interesting regions in the Galactic Plane.

Herschel’s view of the Eagle Nebula. Credit: ESA/Herschel/PACS, SPIRE/Hi-GAL Project

During its 4 years of operations (2009-2013), the Herschel space observatory scanned the sky at far-inf...