This peculiar portrait from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope showcases NGC 1999, a reflection nebula in the constellation Orion. It appears as a light blue cloud in space with a keyhole-shaped 'hole' in the center.

This peculiar portrait from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope showcases NGC 1999, a reflection nebula in the constellation Orion. It appears as a light blue cloud in space with a keyhole-shaped 'hole' in the center. (Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, ESO, K. Noll)

It's not everyday that you can see through a hole in the sky, but Hubble did it.

NASA and the European Space Agency have released a new picture of the reflection nebula, which was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. There is a relic of a star's formation in the center of the image.

There is a dark void in the center of the nebula.

There is a thing or two with a new photo.

The dark central region was thought to be called a "Bok globule" by Hubble when it was first imaged. The dense clouds of gas, dust, and other gasses are so dense that they block light from entering. Astronomers discovered that the dark region was empty after observing it. The origin of this feature is unknown at the moment.

The leftover material from the star's formation is visible from the inside of the nebula. The star is white in color due to the intense heat of its surface, and it is estimated to have 3.5 stars.

The nebula is close to the star-forming region of the Milky Way. The first Herbig-Haro object ever discovered is just outside of the image frame. The ionized gas shot out from young stars is called Herbig-Haro.

This peculiar portrait from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope showcases NGC 1999, a reflection nebula in the constellation Orion.

This peculiar portrait from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope showcases NGC 1999, a reflection nebula in the constellation Orion.  (Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, ESO, K. Noll)

The new image was created using archival data from Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, which uses a mix of ultraviolet, visible, and near-IR sensors to create the image. Hubble's other sensors can't see past the clouds of dust to the stars, so the IR sensor is the most important one.

The ability to pass through clouds of gas and dust is what makes the James Webb Space Telescope such an important instrument, since it's IR camera is much more sensitive than Hubble's.

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