Nebulae
Gas Plume From a Newborn Star
December 16, 1992 · ESA/Hubble · M 42 , Messier 42 , NGC 1976 , Orion Nebula · Orion
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A NASA Hubble Space Telescope picture of a hypersonic shock wave (lower right) of material moving at 148,000 miles per hour in the Orion Nebula, a star-forming region 1,500 light-years away.
Studies of similar objects infer that such highly supersonic shock waves are formed by a beam of material coming out of newly formed stars.
The plume is only 1,500 years old. The image is 112 light-year across.
This color photograph is a composite of separate images taken at the wavelengths of the two abundant elements in the nebula: Hydrogen and Oxygen. The images were taken with HST's Wide Field and Planetary Camera (in wide field mode), on August 13 and 14, 1991.
More Hubble images of M 42 , Messier 42 , NGC 1976 , Orion Nebula
Orion Nebula, NGC 1976, M42 (ground-based image)March 6, 2002
Orion Nebula, NGC 1976, M42March 6, 2002
The Orion NebulaJune 13, 1994
Hubble Probes the Great Orion NebulaJanuary 14, 1994
The Stunning Colors of the Orion NebulaDecember 16, 1992
NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Discovers Jet Structure in the Orion NebulaOctober 4, 1990
Orion Nebula HST view versus ground-based viewOctober 4, 1990
Window-curtain structure of the Orion Nebula revealedOctober 4, 1990