The glowing region on the right reveals arcs and bubbles formed when stellar winds - streams of charged particles ejected from the Trapezium stars - collide with material. These pillars are resisting erosion from the Trapezium's intense ultraviolet light. Next to M43 are dense, dark pillars of dust and gas that point toward the Trapezium. Astronomers call the region a miniature Orion Nebula because only one star is sculpting the landscape. The bright glow at upper left is from M43, a small region being shaped by a massive, young star's ultraviolet light. The disks are the building blocks of solar systems. These disks are called protoplanetary disks or "proplyds" and are too small to see clearly in this image. Located near the Trapezium stars are stars still young enough to have disks of material encircling them. Ultraviolet light unleashed by these stars is carving a cavity in the nebula and potentially disrupting the growth of hundreds of smaller stars. The stars are called the Trapezium because they appear in a trapezoid pattern. The bright central region is the home of the four heftiest stars in the nebula. The Orion Nebula is a picture book of star formation, from the massive, young stars that are shaping the nebula to the pillars of dense gas that may be the homes of budding stars. These stars reside in a dramatic dust-and-gas landscape of plateaus, mountains, and valleys that are reminiscent of the Grand Canyon. Some of them have never been seen in visible light. More than 3,000 stars of various sizes appear in this image. The image, taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, represents the sharpest view ever taken of this region, called the Orion Nebula. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.This dramatic image offers a peek inside a cavern of roiling dust and gas where thousands of stars are forming. By studying these distant discs we get to uncover the formation and evolution of our own cosmic home. The planetary system we live in once emerged from a similar protoplanetary disc when the Sun was only a few million years old. These precious insights into protoplanetary discs around young stars allow astronomers to study our own past. However, in an unlikely coincidence, a similar looking shadow phenomenon can be seen emanating from another young star, in the upper left of the image. The nebula envelops hundreds of young stars, many of which could also be in the process of forming planets in a protoplanetary disc.Īlthough shadow-casting discs are common around young stars, the combination of an edge-on viewing angle and the surrounding nebula is rare. The whole Serpens Nebula, of which this image shows only a tiny part, could host more of these shadow projections. Using the shape and colour of the shadow, they can determine the size and composition of dust grains in the disc. Whilst most of the shadow is completely opaque, scientists can look for colour differences along its edges, where some light gets through. The presence of a shadow implies that the disc is being viewed nearly edge-on. However, the shadow feature - nicknamed the Bat Shadow - reveals details of the disc’s shape and nature. The disc itself is so small and far away from Earth that not even Hubble can detect it encircling its host star. Light escapes from the top and bottom of the shade, but along its circumference, dark cones of shadow form. The disc’s shadow is similar to that produced by a cylindrical lamp shade. By clinging tightly to the star the disc creates an imposing shadow, much larger than the disc - approximately 200 times the diameter of our own Solar System. These colossal shadows on the Serpens Nebula are cast by the protoplanetary disc surrounding HBC 672. In this image the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has exposed two vast cone-like shadows emanating from HBC 672. The Serpens Nebula, located in the tail of the Serpent (Serpens Cauda) about 1300 light-years away, is a reflection nebula that owes most of its sheen to the light emitted by stars like HBC 672 - a young star nestled in its dusty folds. This young star casts a striking shadow - nicknamed the Bat Shadow - on the nebula behind it, revealing telltale signs of its otherwise invisible protoplanetary disc. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured part of the wondrous Serpens Nebula, lit up by the star HBC 672.
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