ESO Telescope Captures Spectacular New Image of Star Birth

ESO's Very Large Telescope has captured a spectacular new image of a glowing nebula called RCW 34. The new picture reveals gas being heated dramatically by young stars and expanding through the surrounding cooler gas.

In the image you can see a red cloud of glowing hydrogen gas behind a collection of blue foreground stars. Within RCW 34, which is located in the southern constellation of Vela, a group of massive young stars hide in the brightest region of the cloud. These stars have a dramatic effect on the nebula. Gas exposed to strong ultraviolet radiation becomes ionized. In other words, electrons have escaped the hydrogen ions.

Hydrogen glows brightly in the characteristic red color that distinguishes many nebulae and allows them to create beautiful images with fantastical shapes. It's also the raw material of dramatic phenomena, such as champagne flow. Ionized hydrogen also has an important astronomical role: it's an indicator of star-forming regions.

Vast amounts of dust within the nebula block the view of the inner workings of the stellar nursery deeply embedded in these clouds. In RCW 34, almost all of the visible light from this region is absorbed before it reaches Earth. Despite hiding away from direct view, astronomers can use infrared telescopes to peer through the dust and study the nest of embedded stars.

Behind the red color, you can see young stars in the region with masses that are only a fraction of that of the sun. These clump around older, more massive stars at the center, while only a few are distributed on the outskirts.

The new image reveals a bit more about this region, and even tell astronomers a bit more about stellar formation.

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