by Ann » Thu Nov 05, 2015 3:54 pm
starsurfer wrote:Very beautiful image of one of my favourite reflection nebulae! I particularly like regions that include Herbig Haro objects, since the discovery of HH 1 in the 1950's, more than a thousand are now catalogued.
I'm sure Ann would approve of this image!
I do!
It's a lovely picture of a well-known region of low-mass star formation. The dominant color is blue (unless you count all the gray and black stuff), and there are little pink emission nebulas and many orange warm little fuzzies that are embedded, unborn stars.
Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the whole thing is that you could almost imagine that the blue reflection nebula could be a mighty blue star, and the black stuff apparently radiating semi-symmetrically from the blue "star" might almost be some kind of black "anti-light". The blue "star" looks like it is hot enough to pump jets of pure blackness into the not quite perfect blackness of space!
(I know, the black stuff is dust!)
But while I love the picture, I'm just slightly less impressed with NGC 1333 itself, a region of low-mass star formation. Several little red dwarfs will be born out of that dusty cocoon, and probably one of two stars like the Sun, too. But how massive will the biggest star be that is born from this particular stellar breeding ground? Will it be as massive as Regulus, 3.4 solar masses
according to Jim Kaler?
I doubt it. Maybe, maybe, after a lot of pushing and panting, and a lot of tantrums and outbursts, this nebula will produce another
Vega.
(But I suppose it's just possible that I'm underestimating NGC 1333. Possible, I said.)
Ann
[quote="starsurfer"]Very beautiful image of one of my favourite reflection nebulae! I particularly like regions that include Herbig Haro objects, since the discovery of HH 1 in the 1950's, more than a thousand are now catalogued.
I'm sure Ann would approve of this image! :D[/quote]
I do! :D It's a lovely picture of a well-known region of low-mass star formation. The dominant color is blue (unless you count all the gray and black stuff), and there are little pink emission nebulas and many orange warm little fuzzies that are embedded, unborn stars.
Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the whole thing is that you could almost imagine that the blue reflection nebula could be a mighty blue star, and the black stuff apparently radiating semi-symmetrically from the blue "star" might almost be some kind of black "anti-light". The blue "star" looks like it is hot enough to pump jets of pure blackness into the not quite perfect blackness of space! :shock: (I know, the black stuff is dust!)
But while I love the picture, I'm just slightly less impressed with NGC 1333 itself, a region of low-mass star formation. Several little red dwarfs will be born out of that dusty cocoon, and probably one of two stars like the Sun, too. But how massive will the biggest star be that is born from this particular stellar breeding ground? Will it be as massive as Regulus, 3.4 solar masses [url=http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/regulus.html]according to Jim Kaler[/url]?
I doubt it. Maybe, maybe, after a lot of pushing and panting, and a lot of tantrums and outbursts, this nebula will produce another [url=http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/vega.html]Vega[/url]. [size=50](But I suppose it's just possible that I'm underestimating NGC 1333. [i]Possible,[/i] I said.)[/size]
Ann