Space Update: Blue Stars Spotted Ripping Apart A Dark Nebula

For space enthusiasts, here is the latest happening in space: Two blue stars have just emerged from a dark nebula, ripping the latter apart. The stars were glowing brightly during the event.

IFL Science described the happening as comparable to the start of a sci-fi novel. And in fact, the aforementioned details were the actual description of the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) VITA survey in its latest image release.

Through the telescope used, experts were able to see the image of Messier 78, a reflection nebula that is 1,600 light-years from the Earth. Also in the image were the two supergiant blue stars HD 38563A and HD 38563B emerging from the dark nebula that birthed them.

Three other nebulae surround the said cloud, which is around five light-years across and carved by stars' powerful light. NGC 2071, NGC 2067, and NGC 2064 were the names of the three nebulae. The whole system contains a special class of variable stars called T Tauri. There are around 45 of them.

Basically, T Tauri are young objects undergoing processes that will result in them turning into fully-fledged stars. At present, they are not yet hot enough to start nuclear fusion at their core.

It was 1780 when scientists discovered Messier 78. It contains 17 Herbig-Haro objects described as narrow jets of dust and gas that newly born stars created upon interacting with the cloud that formed them. Also, they are short-lived events that last for a few thousand years.

Blue stars have been making headlines these past months. In February this year, a telescope in Chile captured a photo of a young star glowing like a blue light bulb, as Space reported. The star's name is HD 97300. It lights up a cloud of gas and dust nearby, which creates a reflection nebula. Indeed the beauty of blue stars, especially the ones emerging from a dark nebula, never fails to captivate humans' eyes, particularly those of space enthusiasts.