The emission nebula near the constellation of Scorpio, called the crimson place of birth for young stars, was captured by a ground-based observatory.
The National Institute of Optical Infrared Astronomy (NOIRLab) of the National Science Foundation (NFS) recently released the latest image of the bright-line nebula ‘RCW120’ captured by the 0.9-meter SMARTS Telescope at Cerro Tololo Observatory in Chile via its official. website.
About 4,300 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Scorpius, RCW120 is also called Sh2-3. The striking red glow that makes the nebula look like a smoldering flame is caused by the ionization of hydrogen gas by ultraviolet radiation from a hot young body.
Astronomers call this region, where ionized hydrogen gas glows, HII (H2) or the ionized hydrogen region. The HII region is known as the “cradle of stars” because it gives birth to new stars made of gas and dust.
Young stars usually ionize part of the self-forming molecular cloud. Large hot stars are those that can radiate enough energy to ionize most regions of the molecular cloud. Young star clusters are usually capable of producing such a large amount of energy, so bright banded nebulae are often seen around young open clusters.
Nebulae with bright stripes change color depending on their chemical composition and degree of ionization. Most of the interstellar gases contain hydrogen, and the energy required to ionize hydrogen is relatively small, so nebulae with bright stripes appear in red. This red color comes from Hα rays, one of the wavelengths emitted when ions combine when ultraviolet light hits a hydrogen atom.
However, in an environment where significant energy is provided, elements other than hydrogen are also ionized, so the Band Nebula can turn bright green or blue. That is, by examining the spectrum of the nebula, its chemical composition can be determined. Astronomers believe that 90% of the Bright Line Nebula is hydrogen and the rest is made up of helium, oxygen, nitrogen and other elements.
Among the brightest nebulae visible in the night sky, Lake Nebula (M8, NGC 6523) and the Orion Nebula (M42, NGC 1976), about 5,200 light-years from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius, are beautiful. The region of NGC 2174, also known as the “Monkey Head Nebula” in the constellation Orion, is also popular with space enthusiasts.
It is worth noting that a newborn star was observed in “RCW120”, which may be one of the brightest stars in the Milky Way. According to NOIRLab, the star was captured during observations by the European Space Agency (ESA’s) Herschel Space Telescope. At the time of discovery, the mass was already estimated to be about 8 to 10 times the mass of the Sun, and it will likely absorb the copious cosmic gases or dust around it and grow more over the next hundreds of thousands of years. year.
Reporter Jeong Ian Angle @sputnik.kr
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