APOD: Herbig-Haro 24 (2015 Dec 18)

[Ron-Astro Pharmacist]

If you read the paper I'd like to know if you think that a fourth dimension could be a torus and that it may explain many of the shapes we see in nature? And you thought the apple and Newton was all about gravity. Food for rethinking

[geckzilla]

Is this an actual image or artist rendition?

Actual image. Do note that some weirdness with the colors is occurring because the cyan channel and the orange channel do not match up entirely due to the very fast movement of the jet. The two datasets used to create the color composite were not captured at the same time. Usually, this doesn't matter, but these jets are moving really fast. Also keep in mind this is not an RGB image.

Actual image .. but not an actual photograph.
"Constructed from Hubble Space Telescope image data, the stunning scene ..." As you said Geck, constructed from two sets of data.

It is as much an actual photograph as it is an actual image. The two sets of data are also themselves photographs. Combining them into a single color composite doesn't suddenly make it not a photograph.

[geckzilla]

I've made a mistake by calling this two sets of data. It does in fact contain some new data for a total of four sets. Last I looked at this, it wasn't possible to create a complete color image with this quality, so I should have realized this sooner! Here are the details on the Hubble Heritage site:
http://heritage.stsci.edu/2015/42/fast_facts.html

I just have to send Bo an email now...

[starsurfer]

I've made a mistake by calling this two sets of data. It does in fact contain some new data for a total of four sets. Last I looked at this, it wasn't possible to create a complete color image with this quality, so I should have realized this sooner! Here are the details on the Hubble Heritage site:
http://heritage.stsci.edu/2015/42/fast_facts.html

I just have to send Bo an email now...

It gets complicated doesn't it?!
Bo Reipurth is one of the greatest researchers of star formation, some of his papers on Herbig Haro objects are exceptional!
Here is another image of this area from the Gemini Observatory.

[madtom1999]

I've seen a few of these jets and one thing strikes me - one jet is often more linear and better defined than the other. Is this because they are electrically polarised and one consists of electrons and negatively charged ions and is more easily disrupted and the other is positive ions and so less easily disrupted?

[Chris Peterson]

I've seen a few of these jets and one thing strikes me - one jet is often more linear and better defined than the other. Is this because they are electrically polarised and one consists of electrons and negatively charged ions and is more easily disrupted and the other is positive ions and so less easily disrupted?

No. Certainly, the jets do contain charged particles and are influenced to some degree by the local magnetic environment. But mostly we're just seeing the effects of turbulence, which mixes things up randomly, and the interaction of the jets with all the surrounding gas, which is far from uniform.