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Old Equipment Produces Another Beauty
By SPACE.com Staff
posted: 09:00 am ET
06 March 2002
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New Hubble Image: Old Equipment Produces Another BeautyTake a look at the latest image released from Hubble Space Telescope and you wouldn't think the observatory needs a new set of eyes. The new picture shows what happens when streams of gas collide in space. The result is an arc-shaped bow shock, a 3-D version of the wave generated by the prow of a boat. Researchers pointed Hubble at an intense star-forming region known as the Great Nebula in Orion, about 1,500 light-years from Earth. There, a very young star called LL Ori spews forth a vigorous wind of superheated gas and charged particles, which races outward in all directions. To the right of the star in the picture, the wind slams into slow-moving gas evaporating away from the center of the Orion Nebula, which is seen in the lower right of the image. The filamentary emission has a very distinct boundary on the side facing away from LL Ori, but is diffuse on the side closest to the star, a characteristic common to many bow shocks. A second, fainter bow shock can be seen around a star near the upper right-hand corner of the image. Astronomers have identified numerous shock fronts in this complex star-forming region and are using this data to understand the many complex phenomena associated with the birth of stars.Our own Sun has a less energetic version of this wind that is responsible for auroral displays on the Earth. The image was released Wednesday. It was produced by the Hubble Heritage team with data gathered in 1995. With astronauts currently installing a new camera on Hubble, one has to wonder what sorts of new images the new telescope will provide.
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