NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Captures Mysterious "Superbubble" and Cleopatra's Eye in the Sky

A Hubble Space Telescope image shows wispy clouds of gas and a mysterious "superbubble" that may be linked to a supernova activity. NASA said that this superbubble that appears in the upper central part of the gas cloud called nebula N44 is something that interests scientists because it is unknown how this structure formed.

Two Leading Hypotheses on How the Superbubble Formed

According to Tech Explorist, Nebula N44 is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud and consists of glowing hydrogen gas, massive stars, dark lanes of dust, and several populations of stars with different gas. But one of its most remarkable features is the starry gap that scientists call a superbubble that is visible in the recent image of the Hubble Space Telescope.

The gap, or hole, is measured to be about 250 light-years wide and remains a mystery to scientists. NASA said in a statement that there are two leading hypotheses that explain how the superbubble has formed. The first hypothesis suggests that huge stars blew away the gas with their stellar winds. However, this explanation is inconsistent with the measured wind velocities in the bubble.

On the other hand, the second hypothesis says that the expanding shells of old supernovae sculpted the cosmic cavern since the nebula is filled with massive stars that would die in large explosions. This explanation seems to have more credence because they found at least one supernova remnant near the superbubble.

More so they have identified an approximately 5 million year difference in age between the stars in the superbubble, which indicates multiple or a chain reaction of star-forming events.

Space.com added that this also points to a zone of intense star formation at the lower right part of the superbubble, as seen from the Hubble Space Telescope image. N44's glowing gas pegs it as an emission nebula, which means it has the molecules energized by star radiation. So when the gas emits light energy and begins cooling, it also produces the glowing effect.

Hubble Spies Cleopatra's Eye

Aside from superbubble, the Hubble Space Telescope has captured recently, it also photographed many other celestial objects. One of these stunning images is that of a planetary nebula called Cleopatra's Eye or NGC 1535. This nebula has an unusual structure similar to another nebula called NGC 2392, which has an outer region and a brighter inner center.

Planetary nebulae form when a star almost similar to the Sun dies and ejects all its outer layers into space as its core transforms into a white dwarf star. However, NASA emphasizes that planetary nebulae are not similar to actual planets.

According to NASA, the image of Cleopatra's Eye and the superbubble is part of a study of over 100 planetary nebulae located near the stars, which indicates a possible gravitational connection between their central stars and nearby stars. Their observations of Cleopatra's Eye nebula suggest that it is part of a gravitationally bound binary star system.

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