One of the best places to view the night sky is in the constellation of Orion.
There is a huge cloud of dust and gas between the stars. Baby stars are being born in this nest of material, which is one of the most studied and photographed objects in the universe.
It is visible to the naked eye because it is so close and large.
It is an important laboratory for understanding star formation because it is close to the Sun.
You just have to look closely at what's happening.
In the middle is a rare and wonderful Cosmic interaction, triggered by the baby star IX Ori, which is depicted in the new Hubble image release.
The interaction is known as a Herbig-Haro object. It takes a specific set of circumstances to form them.
You must have a baby star first. When a dense knot in a cloud collapses, it spins under its own mass. The baby star grows because of the material from the cloud surrounding it.
Powerful jets ofplasma can be launched from the star's poles as this material accretes onto it. The material that swirls around the star is thought to be diverted to the poles. When the material reaches the poles, it is launched at incredible speeds because of the magnetic field lines.
A Herbig-Haro object forms when these jets slam hard into the surrounding gas, heating it and making it glow. The light appears to come from the baby star.
Astronomers can study these structures to understand how baby stars blow away material in the sky. The size of the adult star is determined by the amount of gas and dust fed to the stars.
Is this patch of sky any better?
You can download the new image from Hubble.
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