The newly released images from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) showed a glowing area of space. According to reports, the region was called the "Chamaeleon Complex."
ESO's Infrared Image of Chamaeleon Complex
ESO's Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) captured a snap of the Chamaeleon Complex. It released a snap of the cosmic chameleon online Monday.
Chamaeleon Complex is a massive star nursery 522 light-years away from Earth and around 65 light-years wide. The brightest nebula in this incredibly active star-forming region, the Chamaeleon Cloud, also known as IC 2631, is the subject of a recent ESO photograph.
According to a statement from the ESO, IC 2631 is categorized as a reflection nebula, indicating it is composed of dust clouds that reflect light emitted from nearby stars, Space.com reported
One of the newest, most massive, and brightest stars in its cosmic neighborhood, HD 97300, is the primary illumination source for the nebula at the center of the new ESO image. The star may be made out in the field's center-right, encircled by violet interstellar clouds. The photo's brilliant patches are made up of interstellar gas and dust powered by newly-formed stars.
According to ESO officials, the cloud is brimming with the gas and dust that stars are made of. This region has black areas when dust obstructs light from background sources at optical wavelengths.
However, this picture was taken using infrared light, virtually unimpededly passing through dust, allowing researchers to look within the cloud's core.
They emphasized that, despite its name, IC 2631 can be seen in the southern hemisphere's night sky for most of the year.
Star-Forming Chamaeleon
One of three sections of the Chamaeleon Cloud Complex, a 65-light-year wide star-forming area, was visible in NASA Hubble Space Telescope view, NASA reported on January 2022. The Chamaeleon Cloud I (Cha I) component of this Hubble composite view shows dusty, dark clouds where stars are forming, brilliant reflection nebulae shining with the light of young, luminous blue stars, and radiant knots known as Herbig-Haro objects.
Bright interstellar gas clusters and arcs called Herbig-Haro objects are created when jets from developing "protostars" shock and energize interstellar gas. One of these protostars is in the center of the white-orange cloud at the image's bottom. The Herbig-Haro object HH 909A is produced when its bright white jets of hot gas discharge in narrow torrents from the protostar's poles.
When light waves from a highly bright point source (like a star) bend around Hubble's cross-shaped struts that support the telescope's secondary mirror, the cross-like spikes are seen around brilliant stars in the image. A dazzling, spikey starburst effect is visible as the light waves flow through these struts and combine on the other side.
As part of the search for highly faint, low-mass brown dwarfs, Hubble observed Cha I. These "failed stars" range in size from a big planet to a tiny star (10 to 90 times Jupiter's mass), yet lack the mass necessary to initiate and maintain nuclear fusion in their cores. Astronomers are learning more about low-mass brown dwarfs thanks to Hubble's discovery of six new ones.
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