by APOD Robot » Thu Oct 27, 2011 4:06 am
Young Suns of NGC 7129
Explanation: Young suns still lie
within dusty NGC 7129, some 3,000 light-years away toward the royal
constellation Cepheus. While
these stars are at a relatively tender age, only a few million years old, it is likely that our own Sun formed in a similar stellar nursery some five
billion years ago. Most noticeable in
the sharp image are the lovely bluish dust clouds
that reflect the youthful starlight. But the compact, deep red crescent shapes are also markers of energetic, young stellar objects. Known as
Herbig-Haro objects, their shape and color is characteristic of glowing hydrogen gas
shocked by jets streaming away from newborn stars. Paler, extended filaments of
reddish emission mingling with the bluish clouds are caused by dust grains effectively converting the invisible ultraviolet starlight to visible red light through
photoluminesence. Ultimately the natal gas and dust in the region will be dispersed, the
stars drifting apart as the loose cluster orbits the center of the Galaxy. At the estimated distance of
NGC 7129, this telescopic view spans about 40 light-years.
[/b]
[url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111027.html][img]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_111027.jpg[/img] [size=150]Young Suns of NGC 7129[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] Young suns still lie [url=http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/image_galleries/legacy/spitzer_n7129/caption.html]within dusty NGC 7129[/url], some 3,000 light-years away toward the royal [url=http://www.astropix.com/HTML/E_SUM_N/CEPHEUSO.HTM]constellation Cepheus[/url]. While [url=http://arxiv.org/abs/0907.4252]these stars[/url] are at a relatively tender age, only a few million years old, it is likely that our own Sun formed in a similar stellar nursery some five [i]billion[/i] years ago. Most noticeable in [url=http://panther-observatory.com/gallery/deepsky/doc/NGC7129_STX.htm]the sharp image[/url] are the lovely bluish dust clouds [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap011228.html]that reflect[/url] the youthful starlight. But the compact, deep red crescent shapes are also markers of energetic, young stellar objects. Known as [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbig-Haro_object]Herbig-Haro[/url] objects, their shape and color is characteristic of glowing hydrogen gas [url=http://sparky.rice.edu/~hartigan/movies.html]shocked by jets[/url] streaming away from newborn stars. Paler, extended filaments of [url=http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0309674]reddish emission[/url] mingling with the bluish clouds are caused by dust grains effectively converting the invisible ultraviolet starlight to visible red light through [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap051229.html]photoluminesence[/url]. Ultimately the natal gas and dust in the region will be dispersed, the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_cluster#Eventual_fate]stars drifting apart[/url] as the loose cluster orbits the center of the Galaxy. At the estimated distance of [url=http://www.noao.edu/outreach/aop/observers/n7129.html]NGC 7129[/url], this telescopic view spans about 40 light-years.
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