APOD: The Cone Nebula from Hubble (2024 Feb 04)

[APOD Robot]

The Cone Nebula from Hubble

Explanation: Stars are forming in the gigantic dust pillar called the Cone Nebula. Cones, pillars, and majestic flowing shapes abound in stellar nurseries where natal clouds of gas and dust are buffeted by energetic winds from newborn stars. The Cone Nebula, a well-known example, lies within the bright galactic star-forming region NGC 2264. The Cone was captured in unprecedented detail in this close-up composite of several observations from the Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. While the Cone Nebula, about 2,500 light-years away in Monoceros, is around 7 light-years long, the region pictured here surrounding the cone's blunted head is a mere 2.5 light-years across. In our neck of the galaxy that distance is just over half way from our Sun to its nearest stellar neighbors in the Alpha Centauri star system. The massive star NGC 2264 IRS, seen by Hubble's infrared camera in 1997, is the likely source of the wind sculpting the Cone Nebula and lies off the top of the image. The Cone Nebula's reddish veil is produced by dust and glowing hydrogen gas.

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[Ann]

The Cone Nebula from Hubble Image Credit: Hubble Legacy Archive, NASA, ESA - Processing & Licence: Judy Schmidt

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Click to view full size image

Han Solo: Buddy, you've got stars in your hair.

Chewbacca: Grunt! (Translation: And who knows how many other critters I've got up there?)

Ann

[Christian G.]

Otherworldly!

[johnnydeep]

Of the many stars seen in this image, are any actually within the Cone Nebula, or has no stellar conception started there yet?

[Ann]

Of the many stars seen in this image, are any actually within the Cone Nebula, or has no stellar conception started there yet?

The way I understand it, we do see two newborn stars at the top of the Cone Nebula:

APOD 4 February 2024 annotated.png

Stars are often seen at the top of dusty pillars. The Horsehead Nebula, which is another pillar, appears to have given birth to a star at the top of its "head":

A star is peeking out from the top of the Horsehead Nebula. Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

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And the three famous Pillars of Creation appear to each carry a star at the top of its head:

The Pillars of Creation in infrared light, revealing newborn stars at the top of each pillar. Credit (I think): NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

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The Dark Tower in Scorpius, another pillar, seems to be blowing a bubble as it is "spitting out" a new star. The Dark Tower is also wearing a "necklace" of blue stars around its "neck". Since there appear to be no other blue stars in the vicinity, we may perhaps conclude that the blue stars have been birthed by the Dark Tower itself.

Dark Tower in Scorpius Rick Stevenson.png

The Dark Tower in Scorpius. Credit: Rick Stevenson.

I guess it is also possible that some of the other stars that can be seen next to the Cone, the Horsehead and the Pillars of Creation may have been born from these dusty pillars and then drifted away. We must also remember that pillars shrink over time as ultraviolet light and harsh stellar winds from hot massive stars eat away at them. That makes it perhaps even more likely that one or more of the stars that are detached from the outline of the pillars have nevertheless been born inside the pillars, when they were larger.

Ann

[Chris Peterson]

Of the many stars seen in this image, are any actually within the Cone Nebula, or has no stellar conception started there yet?

It's really hard to say. There are a few stars (identified by Ann) that are ambiguous. I'm quite sure that in a molecular cloud this dense there is star formation going on. But we don't usually see that in visible wavelengths until they are outside the edge of the cloud, usually at the tip of a proplyd. There are little bumps on the surface of this cloud that might well be proplyds beginning to form. The absence of obvious ones suggests that this cloud is somewhat younger than others, like the Pillars of Creation. I'll bet that a JWST image of this would show stars forming inside.

[johnnydeep]

Of the many stars seen in this image, are any actually within the Cone Nebula, or has no stellar conception started there yet?

It's really hard to say. There are a few stars (identified by Ann) that are ambiguous. I'm quite sure that in a molecular cloud this dense there is star formation going on. But we don't usually see that in visible wavelengths until they are outside the edge of the cloud, usually at the tip of a proplyd. There are little bumps on the surface of this cloud that might well be proplyds beginning to form. The absence of obvious ones suggests that this cloud is somewhat younger than others, like the Pillars of Creation. I'll bet that a JWST image of this would show stars forming inside.

Thanks Chris (and Ann). I'd think any stars that actually formed from the dust would have blown the dust clear already, but that doesn't seem to have been the case here. I wonder what the Gaia measurements of the distances of the suspected neonate stars are.

PS - "proplyd": another cool word to add to my vocabulary!

A proplyd, short for ionized protoplanetary disk, is an externally illuminated photoevaporating protoplanetary disk around a young star. Nearly 180 proplyds have been discovered in the Orion Nebula.[1] Images of proplyds in other star-forming regions are rare, while Orion is the only region with a large known sample due to its relative proximity to Earth.[2]

[Ann]

Of the many stars seen in this image, are any actually within the Cone Nebula, or has no stellar conception started there yet?

It's really hard to say. There are a few stars (identified by Ann) that are ambiguous. I'm quite sure that in a molecular cloud this dense there is star formation going on. But we don't usually see that in visible wavelengths until they are outside the edge of the cloud, usually at the tip of a proplyd. There are little bumps on the surface of this cloud that might well be proplyds beginning to form. The absence of obvious ones suggests that this cloud is somewhat younger than others, like the Pillars of Creation. I'll bet that a JWST image of this would show stars forming inside.

Thanks Chris (and Ann). I'd think any stars that actually formed from the dust would have blown the dust clear already, but that doesn't seem to have been the case here. I wonder what the Gaia measurements of the distances of the suspected neonate stars are.

PS - "proplyd": another cool word to add to my vocabulary!

A proplyd, short for ionized protoplanetary disk, is an externally illuminated photoevaporating protoplanetary disk around a young star. Nearly 180 proplyds have been discovered in the Orion Nebula.[1] Images of proplyds in other star-forming regions are rare, while Orion is the only region with a large known sample due to its relative proximity to Earth.[2]

Despite what I said about blue (and therefore reasonably massive) stars possibly having formed from the Dark Tower in Scorpius, I believe that typically only low-mass stars will form from pillars, because there usually isn't enough starforming material there for massive stars to form. (There may be exceptions.)

Still, take a look at the star that I think is called Herschel 36 (too lazy to look it up) forming at the center of the Lagoon Nebula. The sound and fury of the birth of that massive star has sure stirred up the center of the Lagoon!

The Busy Center of the Lagoon Nebula. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing: Francisco Javier Pobes Serrano

---

You don't see that kind of violence when small stars form in pillars like the Cone Nebula, do you?

Ann

[johnnydeep]

It's really hard to say. There are a few stars (identified by Ann) that are ambiguous. I'm quite sure that in a molecular cloud this dense there is star formation going on. But we don't usually see that in visible wavelengths until they are outside the edge of the cloud, usually at the tip of a proplyd. There are little bumps on the surface of this cloud that might well be proplyds beginning to form. The absence of obvious ones suggests that this cloud is somewhat younger than others, like the Pillars of Creation. I'll bet that a JWST image of this would show stars forming inside.

Thanks Chris (and Ann). I'd think any stars that actually formed from the dust would have blown the dust clear already, but that doesn't seem to have been the case here. I wonder what the Gaia measurements of the distances of the suspected neonate stars are.

PS - "proplyd": another cool word to add to my vocabulary!

A proplyd, short for ionized protoplanetary disk, is an externally illuminated photoevaporating protoplanetary disk around a young star. Nearly 180 proplyds have been discovered in the Orion Nebula.[1] Images of proplyds in other star-forming regions are rare, while Orion is the only region with a large known sample due to its relative proximity to Earth.[2]

Despite what I said about blue (and therefore reasonably massive) stars possibly having formed from the Dark Tower in Scorpius, I believe that typically only low-mass stars will form from pillars, because there usually isn't enough starforming material there for massive stars to form. (There may be exceptions.)

Still, take a look at the star that I think is called Herschel 36 (too lazy to look it up) forming at the center of the Lagoon Nebula. The sound and fury of the birth of that massive star has sure stirred up the center of the Lagoon!

The Busy Center of the Lagoon Nebula. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing: Francisco Javier Pobes Serrano

---

You don't see that kind of violence when small stars form in pillars like the Cone Nebula, do you?

Ann

So, are you saying that low mass stars wouldn't blow away much of their surrounding embryonic dust?

[Ann]

Thanks Chris (and Ann). I'd think any stars that actually formed from the dust would have blown the dust clear already, but that doesn't seem to have been the case here. I wonder what the Gaia measurements of the distances of the suspected neonate stars are.

PS - "proplyd": another cool word to add to my vocabulary!

Despite what I said about blue (and therefore reasonably massive) stars possibly having formed from the Dark Tower in Scorpius, I believe that typically only low-mass stars will form from pillars, because there usually isn't enough starforming material there for massive stars to form. (There may be exceptions.)

Still, take a look at the star that I think is called Herschel 36 (too lazy to look it up) forming at the center of the Lagoon Nebula. The sound and fury of the birth of that massive star has sure stirred up the center of the Lagoon!

The Busy Center of the Lagoon Nebula. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing: Francisco Javier Pobes Serrano

---

You don't see that kind of violence when small stars form in pillars like the Cone Nebula, do you?

Ann

So, are you saying that low mass stars wouldn't blow away much of their surrounding embryonic dust?

Not as much of it as a massive star would, no.

Ann

[johnnydeep]

Despite what I said about blue (and therefore reasonably massive) stars possibly having formed from the Dark Tower in Scorpius, I believe that typically only low-mass stars will form from pillars, because there usually isn't enough starforming material there for massive stars to form. (There may be exceptions.)

Still, take a look at the star that I think is called Herschel 36 (too lazy to look it up) forming at the center of the Lagoon Nebula. The sound and fury of the birth of that massive star has sure stirred up the center of the Lagoon!

The Busy Center of the Lagoon Nebula. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing: Francisco Javier Pobes Serrano

---

You don't see that kind of violence when small stars form in pillars like the Cone Nebula, do you?

Ann

So, are you saying that low mass stars wouldn't blow away much of their surrounding embryonic dust?

Not as much of it as a massive star would, no.

Ann

Frankly, though, I see no signs of any of these supposedly infant stars blowing any of their surrounding dust away.

[Chris Peterson]

So, are you saying that low mass stars wouldn't blow away much of their surrounding embryonic dust?

Not as much of it as a massive star would, no.

Ann

Frankly, though, I see no signs of any of these supposedly infant stars blowing any of their surrounding dust away.

I don't think that's quite what happens. They blow away little bubbles around themselves deep in the cloud, but they are exposed as winds from hot stars outside the molecular cloud erode away the cloud wall.

Here's M16 and the Cone next to each other, normalized to their actual relative sizes (M16 is 2.5 times further away than the Cone). Similarly sized structures, but it looks like M16 has been chipped away at for quite a bit longer.
_

cone_eagle.jpg

[johnnydeep]

Not as much of it as a massive star would, no.

Ann

Frankly, though, I see no signs of any of these supposedly infant stars blowing any of their surrounding dust away.

I don't think that's quite what happens. They blow away little bubbles around themselves deep in the cloud, but they are exposed as winds from hot stars outside the molecular cloud erode away the cloud wall.

Here's M16 and the Cone next to each other, normalized to their actual relative sizes (M16 is 2.5 times further away than the Cone). Similarly sized structures, but it looks like M16 has been chipped away at for quite a bit longer.
_
cone_eagle.jpg

I see. So the sculpting of the clouds doesn't stem from any stars they might be incubating, but from extrinsic stars. Very interesting.

[Ann]

Frankly, though, I see no signs of any of these supposedly infant stars blowing any of their surrounding dust away.

I don't think that's quite what happens. They blow away little bubbles around themselves deep in the cloud, but they are exposed as winds from hot stars outside the molecular cloud erode away the cloud wall.

Here's M16 and the Cone next to each other, normalized to their actual relative sizes (M16 is 2.5 times further away than the Cone). Similarly sized structures, but it looks like M16 has been chipped away at for quite a bit longer.
_
cone_eagle.jpg

I see. So the sculpting of the clouds doesn't stem from any stars they might be incubating, but from extrinsic stars. Very interesting.

Pillars can be sculpted by the stars that they are giving birth to. Take a look at the tallest pillar in the Mystic Mountain in Carina:

NASA, ESA, and M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI)

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You can see that the tallest pillar appears to be precessing like a top, because the young star being formed at the top of it and emitting double jets. Look at how thin the "neck" of this pillar is. It will probably soon be eroded away.

Also note another jet from another young star inside another pillar.

But also note how the entire large structure seems to be eroding away. The small stars inside the pillars aren't responsible for that. Take a look at this Hubble picture of the central Carina Nebula:

The Carina Nebula. Credit: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley), and The Hubble Heritage Team

---

I'm not annotating this image, but you should have no problems finding the Mystic Mountain. It is the bright vaguely V-shaped structure at upper right. The tall pillar that you just saw "standing up" is "hanging down" in this picture. You can just make out the jets emerging from it.

Note the bright stars some distance below and to the left of the Mystic Mountain. This is the Trumpler 14 cluster, and it contains some of the hottest and brightest star in the entire Milky Way.

Wikipedia wrote: 'This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the star cluster Trumpler 14. One of the largest gatherings of hot, massive and bright stars in the Milky Way, this cluster houses some of the most luminous stars in our entire galaxy.' Credit: NASA & ESA, Jesús Maíz Apellániz

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It is Trumpler 14 that is really sculpting and eating away at the Mystic Mountain.

Similarly, the Dark Tower in Scorpius is being sculpted and eroded by the massive cluster NGC 6231:

Dark Tower in Scorpius and NGC 6231 by Gerald Rhemann.png

The Dark Tower in Scorpius is being sculpted by massive cluster NGC 6231.
Credit: Gerald Rhemann.

Ann

[johnnydeep]

I don't think that's quite what happens. They blow away little bubbles around themselves deep in the cloud, but they are exposed as winds from hot stars outside the molecular cloud erode away the cloud wall.

Here's M16 and the Cone next to each other, normalized to their actual relative sizes (M16 is 2.5 times further away than the Cone). Similarly sized structures, but it looks like M16 has been chipped away at for quite a bit longer.
_
cone_eagle.jpg

I see. So the sculpting of the clouds doesn't stem from any stars they might be incubating, but from extrinsic stars. Very interesting.

Pillars can be sculpted by the stars that they are giving birth to. Take a look at the tallest pillar in the Mystic Mountain in Carina:

NASA, ESA, and M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI)

---

You can see that the tallest pillar appears to be precessing like a top, because the young star being formed at the top of it and emitting double jets. Look at how thin the "neck" of this pillar is. It will probably soon be eroded away.

Also note another jet from another young star inside another pillar.

But also note how the entire large structure seems to be eroding away. The small stars inside the pillars aren't responsible for that. Take a look at this Hubble picture of the central Carina Nebula:

The Carina Nebula. Credit: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley), and The Hubble Heritage Team

---

I'm not annotating this image, but you should have no problems finding the Mystic Mountain. It is the bright vaguely V-shaped structure at upper right. The tall pillar that you just saw "standing up" is "hanging down" in this picture. You can just make out the jets emerging from it.

Note the bright stars some distance below and to the left of the Mystic Mountain. This is the Trumpler 14 cluster, and it contains some of the hottest and brightest star in the entire Milky Way.

Wikipedia wrote: 'This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the star cluster Trumpler 14. One of the largest gatherings of hot, massive and bright stars in the Milky Way, this cluster houses some of the most luminous stars in our entire galaxy.' Credit: NASA & ESA, Jesús Maíz Apellániz

---

It is Trumpler 14 that is really sculpting and eating away at the Mystic Mountain.

Similarly, the Dark Tower in Scorpius is being sculpted and eroded by the massive cluster NGC 6231:

Dark Tower in Scorpius and NGC 6231 by Gerald Rhemann.png

The Dark Tower in Scorpius is being sculpted by massive cluster NGC 6231.
Credit: Gerald Rhemann.

Ann

Thanks, Ann. But I'm still not too convinced by any of these "sculpting" arguments. But I'm sure that's only because I'm not versed in the dynamics involved.

Also, what the heck is that coal-black globule in your Trumpler 14 image?

odd black globule in trumpler 14.jpg

[Ann]

I see. So the sculpting of the clouds doesn't stem from any stars they might be incubating, but from extrinsic stars. Very interesting.

Pillars can be sculpted by the stars that they are giving birth to. Take a look at the tallest pillar in the Mystic Mountain in Carina:

NASA, ESA, and M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI)

---

You can see that the tallest pillar appears to be precessing like a top, because the young star being formed at the top of it and emitting double jets. Look at how thin the "neck" of this pillar is. It will probably soon be eroded away.

Also note another jet from another young star inside another pillar.

But also note how the entire large structure seems to be eroding away. The small stars inside the pillars aren't responsible for that. Take a look at this Hubble picture of the central Carina Nebula:

The Carina Nebula. Credit: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley), and The Hubble Heritage Team

---

I'm not annotating this image, but you should have no problems finding the Mystic Mountain. It is the bright vaguely V-shaped structure at upper right. The tall pillar that you just saw "standing up" is "hanging down" in this picture. You can just make out the jets emerging from it.

Note the bright stars some distance below and to the left of the Mystic Mountain. This is the Trumpler 14 cluster, and it contains some of the hottest and brightest star in the entire Milky Way.

Wikipedia wrote: 'This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the star cluster Trumpler 14. One of the largest gatherings of hot, massive and bright stars in the Milky Way, this cluster houses some of the most luminous stars in our entire galaxy.' Credit: NASA & ESA, Jesús Maíz Apellániz

---

It is Trumpler 14 that is really sculpting and eating away at the Mystic Mountain.

Similarly, the Dark Tower in Scorpius is being sculpted and eroded by the massive cluster NGC 6231:

Dark Tower in Scorpius and NGC 6231 by Gerald Rhemann.png

The Dark Tower in Scorpius is being sculpted by massive cluster NGC 6231.
Credit: Gerald Rhemann.

Ann

Thanks, Ann. But I'm still not too convinced by any of these "sculpting" arguments. But I'm sure that's only because I'm not versed in the dynamics involved.

Also, what the heck is that coal-black globule in your Trumpler 14 image?


odd black globule in trumpler 14.jpg

It's a Bok globule.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bok_globule

Ann

[johnnydeep]

...

Ann

Thanks, Ann. But I'm still not too convinced by any of these "sculpting" arguments. But I'm sure that's only because I'm not versed in the dynamics involved.

Also, what the heck is that coal-black globule in your Trumpler 14 image?

Click to view full size image

It's a Bok globule.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bok_globule

Ann

But it looks so particularly black, sharp-edged and impenetrable. Perfect place for an advanced civilization to conceal their attack fleet.

[Ann]

Thanks, Ann. But I'm still not too convinced by any of these "sculpting" arguments. But I'm sure that's only because I'm not versed in the dynamics involved.

Also, what the heck is that coal-black globule in your Trumpler 14 image?

Click to view full size image

It's a Bok globule.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bok_globule

Ann

But it looks so particularly black, sharp-edged and impenetrable. Perfect place for an advanced civilization to conceal their attack fleet.

I admit that the Bok globule of cluster Trumpler 14 looks unnaturally black. I suppose this is either a product of the filter used for the picture, or else it is caused by the the processing.

R136, the magnificent central cluster of the Tarantula Nebula, sports two big bad black dust lanes/Bok Globules. Admittedly they don't look as black as the one in Trumpler 14.

This is a view of the largest stellar nursery in our local galactic neighborhood. The massive, young stellar grouping, called R136, is only a few million years old and resides in the 30 Doradus Nebula, a turbulent star-birth region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Credit: NASA, ESA, F. Paresce (INAF-IASF, Bologna, Italy), R. O'Connell (University of Virginia, Charlottesville), and the Wide Field Camera 3 Science Oversight Committee

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IC 2944 is the Milky Way cluster that is most famous for sporting really black Bok Globules:

Wikipedia chose to call these particular Bok Globules in IC 2944 Thackeray Globules. Unless I'm very much mistaken, they are the same thing. Credit: ESO.

---

But it's this critter in the Carina Nebula that is my favorite Bok Globule! Mister Caterpillar!

Caterpillar, I mean Bok globule, in Carina. Credit: NASA & Stuart Rankin

---

Ann

[johnnydeep]

It's a Bok globule.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bok_globule

Ann

But it looks so particularly black, sharp-edged and impenetrable. Perfect place for an advanced civilization to conceal their attack fleet.

I admit that the Bok globule of cluster Trumpler 14 looks unnaturally black. I suppose this is either a product of the filter used for the picture, or else it is caused by the the processing.

R136, the magnificent central cluster of the Tarantula Nebula, sports two big bad black dust lanes/Bok Globules. Admittedly they don't look as black as the one in Trumpler 14.

This is a view of the largest stellar nursery in our local galactic neighborhood. The massive, young stellar grouping, called R136, is only a few million years old and resides in the 30 Doradus Nebula, a turbulent star-birth region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Credit: NASA, ESA, F. Paresce (INAF-IASF, Bologna, Italy), R. O'Connell (University of Virginia, Charlottesville), and the Wide Field Camera 3 Science Oversight Committee

---

IC 2944 is the Milky Way cluster that is most famous for sporting really black Bok Globules:

Wikipedia chose to call these particular Bok Globules in IC 2944 Thackeray Globules. Unless I'm very much mistaken, they are the same thing. Credit: ESO.

---

But it's this critter in the Carina Nebula that is my favorite Bok Globule! Mister Caterpillar!

Caterpillar, I mean Bok globule, in Carina. Credit: NASA & Stuart Rankin

---

Ann

Ok. Yes, some of those smaller "Thackeray Globules" in IC 2944 are quite similar looking.