The Orion Nebula (M42), also known as the Hunter Nebula, is the closest stellar nursery to Earth where many stars are born. The Hubble Space Telescope, operated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), has captured images showing the changing environment around young stars in this region.
According to reports from the Hubble Space Telescope website, the images taken by the telescope reveal dust pockets within the Orion Nebula. The Orion Nebula is located just 1,300 light-years away from Earth and is visible to the naked eye, situated below the three stars of Orion’s belt.
Home to hundreds of newly formed stars, the Orion Nebula includes focus points such as the protostars HOPS 150 and HOPS 153 featured in the captured image. A protostar is an early stage in the formation of a star.
The names of these protostars come from the Herschel Orion Protostar Survey (HOPS) project carried out by the European Space Agency’s Herschel Space Observatory.
In the upper right corner of the image, one can spot HOPS 150, a binary star system with two young protostars orbiting each other. Each protostar is surrounded by a dust-filled disk from which they draw material during their growth process.
The dark lines seen amidst the bright light emitted by these protostars represent gas and dust clouds. The distance spanned by these lines is more than two thousand times greater than that between Earth and the Sun.
By comparing the infrared light emitted by HOPS 150 with light of other wavelengths, scientists can determine that this protostar is in a transitional phase towards becoming a mature star.
The image also reveals a narrow colorful jet extending to the left side, originating from the nearby protostar, HOPS 153, outside the frame of the picture.
HOPS 153 is much younger than its neighboring celestial bodies, deeply embedded in the nebula of its birth and enveloped by a mass of cold, dense gas. Although the Hubble Space Telescope cannot penetrate this gas to observe HOPS 153 directly, the jet emitted by this protostar becomes visible as it interacts with the surrounding gas and dust in the Orion Nebula.
The transition of HOPS 153 from a protostar to a star will significantly impact its surrounding environment. When gas falls onto this protostar, its jet will expel material and energy into interstellar space, forming bubbles and heating the gas. By stirring and heating the nearby gas, HOPS 153 may influence the formation of nearby young stars and even regulate its own growth process.