This bulbous globular blob of hot, ionized gas may have been formed as a result of astronomical shenanigans by a rare star.

The sphere-shaped object shown here sits in a region known as N214C, a nebula of gas and dust inside the Large Magellanic Cloud outside the Milky Way galaxy. Known as a formation site for massive stars, N214C is home to a stellar rarity known as Sk-71 51.

It is the effects of Sk-71 51, which sits south of the blob depicted here, that astronomers say may have led to the bulbous creation. According to the theory, the blob may have coalesced suring a period of massive star formation following the collapse of a thin shell of material accumulated by strong irradiation and heating of Sk-71 51.

The Sk-71 51 star could sit in a class of extremely massive stars known that comprise the stellar heavyweights of the universe. Astronomers have pegged the star at more than 80 solar masses, but concede that the star could in fact be a system of multiple stellar objects.

The European Southern Observatory produced this view of the N214C blob using the 3.5-meter New Technology Telescope. The image is a six-color composite, with the green hue indicating doubly ionized oxygen atoms.

-- SPACE.com Staff

Credit: ESO.

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