Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Space Industry and Business News .




STELLAR CHEMISTRY
A bubbly cosmic celebration
by Staff Writers
Munich, Germany (SPX) May 31, 2015


This richly colored cloud of gas called RCW 34 is a site of star formation in the southern constellation of Vela (The Sails). This image was taken using the FORS instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope in northern Chile. Image courtesy ESO.

This new image from ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile shows a spectacular red cloud of glowing hydrogen gas behind a collection of blue foreground stars. Within RCW 34 - located in the southern constellation of Vela - a group of massive young stars hide in the brightest region of the cloud [1].

These stars have a dramatic effect on the nebula. Gas exposed to strong ultraviolet radiation - as occurs in the heart of this nebula - becomesionised, meaning that the electrons have escaped the hydrogen atoms.

Hydrogen is treasured by cosmic photographers because it glows brightly in the characteristic red colour that distinguishes many nebulae and allows them to create beautiful images with bizarre shapes.

It is also the raw material of dramatic phenomena such as champagne flow. But ionised hydrogen also has an important astronomical role: it is an indicator of star-forming regions. Stars are born from collapsing gas clouds and therefore abundant in regions with copious amounts of gas, like RCW 34. This makes the nebula particularly interesting to astronomers studying stellar birth and evolution.

Vast amounts of dust within the nebula block the view of the inner workings of the stellar nursery deeply embedded in these clouds. RCW 34 is characterised by extremely high extinction, meaning that almost all of the visible light from this region is absorbed before it reaches Earth. Despite hiding away from direct view, astronomers can use infrared telescopes, to peer through the dust and study the nest of embedded stars.

Looking behind the red colour reveals that there are a lot of young stars in this region with masses only a fraction of that of the Sun. These seem to clump around older, more massive stars at the centre, while only a few are distributed in the outskirts.

This distribution has led astronomers to believe that there have been different episodes of star formation within the cloud. Three gigantic stars formed in the first event that then triggered the formation of the less massive stars in their vicinity [2].

This image uses data from the FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph (FORS) instrument attached to the VLT, which were acquired as part of the ESO Cosmic Gems programme [3].

Notes
[1] RCW 34 is also known as Gum 19 and is centred on the brilliant young star called V391 Velorum.

[2] The most massive very bright stars have short lives - measured in millions of years - but the less massive ones have lives longer than the current age of the Universe.

[3] The ESO Cosmic Gems programme is an outreach initiative to produce images of interesting, intriguing or visually attractive objects using ESO telescopes, for the purposes of education and public outreach. The programme makes use of telescope time that cannot be used for science observations. All data collected may also be suitable for scientific purposes, and are made available to astronomers through ESO's science archive.


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
ESO
Stellar Chemistry, The Universe And All Within It






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Discovery shows what the solar system looked like as a 'toddler'
Cambridge, UK (SPX) May 29, 2015
An international team of astronomers, including researchers from the University of Cambridge, has identified a young planetary system which may aid in understanding how our own solar system formed and developed billions of years ago. Using the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) at the Gemini South telescope in Chile, the researchers identified a disc-shaped bright ring of dust around a star only s ... read more


STELLAR CHEMISTRY
MUOS-3 communications satellite completes in-orbit testing

Patent for Navy small space debris tracker granted

3D printers get Ugandan amputees back on their feet

Saving money and the environment with 3-D printing

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Continued Momentum for Commercial Satellite Acquisition Reform

IOC status for upgraded French AWACS aircraft

Russian Radio-Electronic Forces to Conduct Drills in Armenian Mountains

Thales granted multiple-award IDIQ contract for Army radios

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Recent Proton loss to push up launch costs warns manufacturer

Air Force Certifies SpaceX for National Security Space Missions

SpaceX cleared for US military launches

Ariane 5's second launch of 2015

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
GLONASS to Go on Stream in 2015

Satellites make a load of difference to bridge safety

Advanced Navigation Releases Interface and Logging Unit

Raytheon delivers hardware for next-gen USAF GPS system

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
NASA Tests Aircraft Wing Coatings that Slough Bug Guts

Stealth ability neutralized as Russia's T-50 jet fighter to rule the skies

South Korea detains officers for alleged falsified helo test reports

Airbus admits 'assembly quality problem' after A400M crash

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Advance in quantum error correction

One step closer to a single-molecule device

Stanford breakthrough heralds super-efficient light-based computers

Collaboration could lead to biodegradable computer chips

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Astronomers make 3-D movies of plasma tubes

NASA Soil Moisture Mission Begins Science Operations

In the Field: SMAP Gathers Soil Data in Australia

Mischief makers prompt Google to halt public map edits

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Spain's crisis has taken environmental toll: Greenpeace

Researchers say anti-pollution rules have uncertain effects

Greenpeace India vows to win 'malicious' funds battle

Wetlands continue to reduce nitrates




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.