Gemini Observatory - 2010 Feb 11
A dramatic new image from the Gemini North telescope illustrates the dynamic and sometimes violent process of star birth. It also demonstrates the capabilities of new filters available to researchers using the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS).
Known as Sharpless 2-106 (Sh2-106), the hourglass-shaped (bipolar) nebula in the new Gemini image is a stellar nursery made up of glowing gas and light-scattering dust. The material shrouds a natal high-mass star thought to be mostly responsible for the hourglass shape of the nebula due to high-speed winds (more than 200 kilometers/second) which eject material from the forming star deep within (see the recent Gemini press release on the birth of a massive star which exhibits evidence of similar processes). Research also indicates that many sub-stellar objects are forming within the cloud and may someday result in a cluster of 50 to 150 stars in this region.
Sharpless 2-106 as imaged by the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph on the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawai‘i. This color composite image shows the nursery of a massive star (hidden within the cloud) obtained with four narrow-band optical filters available for Gemini users at both Gemini North and South. For more details see image release text.
Gemini Image - Gemini Observatory/AURA
Subaru Image - Copyright Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. All rights reserved.
Gemini optical (left) and Subaru near-infrared (right) images of Sharpless 2-106. Comparison of these images reveal the various features visible by studying regions of gas and dust in different regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The Subaru image is available here.