There is plenty of space for beautiful galactic fireworks shows because of all the empty space.
NASA says what you see here is a Herbig Haro object, a rare celestial phenomenon. It is created by the collision of ionized gas emitted from a young star with the cloud of dust and gas surrounding these new (relatively speaking), stellar formations.
This Herbig-Haro object is named HH111 and comes to us thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3).
This gorgeous, blue-tinged streak is the result of superheated gases colliding with cosmic dust as it's expelled by a young star. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, B. Nisini
When the young star heats these areas of space, the expelled gas causes the atoms in the gas to lose their electrons. The charged gas is accelerated away from its source and collides with the material around the star. These collisions produce the streaking bursts light that you can see in HH111. They are also the building blocks for Herbig-Haro objects.
Hubble's WFC3 captures light and made this view of HH111 possible. NASA explained that Herbig-Haro objects can be seen within the optical range human eyes can detect. However, the light is difficult to see because of all the dust and gas surrounding the star. The WFC3 can pick up light in the ultraviolet and infrared spectrals, which is particularly useful in cutting through the stellar debris.
This beautiful, blue-tinged streak is light that cuts across space. This Herbig-Haro object was created by a cosmic tug of war between three stars, according to a Hubble report more than 20 years ago.
