NASA has published an image that reveals the secrets of the formation of new worlds. (Source: NASA)
USA – At first glance, it seems like a ghostly image from another world. However, it is actually a place full of life. NASA has published a unique image of a stellar “maternity house” where new stars are born in dense clouds of gas and dust.
The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has published a fascinating image from the Hubble Space Telescope that captures the star-forming cloud Lupus 3. It is located approximately 500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Scorpius and belongs to the so-called star nurseries – areas where new stars are formed. “Although this image may appear ghostly, it is actually full of new life,” explained Monika Luabeya from NASA. As he writes The Sunthe image shows fine white veils of gas, dark dust clouds, and several bright young stars, known as T Tauri stars.
The sun is approximately 4.6 billion years old
These objects represent a kind of “teenage” stage of stellar development. They are less than 10 million years old and have not yet undergone the stable nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium that is typical of mature stars such as our Sun. By comparison, the Sun is about 4.6 billion years old.
T Tauri stars get their energy mainly through gravitational contraction – their own gravity compresses matter towards the center, releasing heat and light. Around stars there is often a disk of gas and dust from which planets may form in the future. It is the instability of this disk, the impact of material on the surface of the star or stellar eruptions that cause these young objects to fluctuate significantly in brightness.
Extremely detailed and accurate images
Scientists consider T Tauri stars extremely valuable because they allow them to peer into the past. “Studying such stars helps us better understand the process of star formation. Our Sun was once a T Tauri star too,” dodala Luabeya.
The image once again confirms the extraordinary capabilities of the Hubble Space Telescope, which has been orbiting the Earth since 1990. Thanks to the fact that it scans the universe outside the Earth’s atmosphere, it can capture extremely detailed and precise images. Even after more than three decades of operation, it remains one of the most important tools of modern astronomy and provides unique insights into the origin and development of the universe.
