Space Hubble telescope It captured a stunning image of a small region of Westerhout 5, also known as the Soul Nebula, glowing red. The absorption of red light is due to H-alpha radiation, which is released when it is very energetic. electrons Hubble representatives wrote that it loses energy in hydrogen atoms, causing this characteristic red light to be released. description of the picture.

This red light also reveals a number of fascinating features, such as the free-floating evaporative gas sphere (frEGG). This frEGG, which can be seen as a dark tadpole-shaped area in the upper-left center of the image, has the official name KAG2008 globule 13 and J025838.6+604259.

These and other frEGGs belong to a special class of evaporative gas globules (EGGs). nebula, when energetic radiation from young, hot stars ionizes surrounding gas and strips electrons. This causes gas to disperse from these bright stars in a process called photoevaporation, which can help stop star formation in nebulae.

The gas is so dense in the EGG that this photo-evaporation process occurs much more slowly than in the surrounding gas regions. This slower evaporation by light and shielding the gas from scattering allows the gas to remain dense enough to collapse and eventually form protostars that become fully fledged. stars. This means that astronomers are interested in frEGGs and EGGs because they are nebular regions where starbirth may once have taken place.

Astronomers have discovered the existence of eggs very recently. A vivid example of these structures is located at the ends. Pillars of Creation in a 1995 Hubble image of the nebula. frEGG is a more recent discovery; they differ from eggs because they separate from the surrounding gas, giving them a distinctive tadpole shape.

The Soul Nebula is the partner of another nebula whose image will be widely shared as Valentine’s Day approaches: the Heart Nebula. The massive cloud of gas and dust, officially known as IC 1805, gets its name from the glowing hydrogen content that makes it look like a pink heart. At 7,500 light-years away, amateur astrophotographers can photograph the Heart Nebula, making it one of the most common cosmic images around February 14.

The Heart and Soul Nebula Complex forms a vast star forming region spanning 300 light-years, with two nebulae connected by a gas bridge. Both nebulae are filled with bright stars that are only a few million years old, true babies compared to ours. Sunalmost 5 billion years old.