The view of HH 45 is dominated by shock waves. Credit: NASA and J. Bally (University of Colorado at Boulder); Processing: Gladys Kober.
Any parent knows how powerful small things are.
In space, baby stars in a section of a gas cloud create a series of powerful shockwaves that can be seen in a new Hubble Space Telescope image.
The image of Herbig-Haro (HH) 45 gives abundant evidence that young stars influence their environment. This object is embedded in a nebula called NGC 1977 which is part of the larger "Running Man" set. The stars are growing up in this complex neighborhood.
The Hubble Space Telescope has the best images.
NASA said that the rare example of a nebula that happens after a newborn star emits hot gas is seen in HH45 The activity creates bright shock waves by colliding with the gas and dust around it at hundreds of miles per second.
The Hubble image shows two sets of ionized gases glowing as the collision strips away charged electrons from their atoms. The blue and purple colors show ionized oxygen and magnesium. NASA said that researchers were interested in the elements because they can be used to identify shocks and ionized fronts.
Hubble is back online after a glitch caused it to go into safe mode. Hubble personnel are able to get its instruments back to normal, but there's a lot of work to be done from previous investigations.
Since the space shuttle retired in 2011, astronauts have not been able to visit the observatory due to inaccessibility with current spacecraft.
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