ESA title
Hubble view of star-forming region S106
Science & Exploration

Young star rebels against its parent cloud

15/12/2011 3890 views 0 likes
ESA / Science & Exploration / Space Science

Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 has captured this image of a giant cloud of hydrogen gas illuminated by a bright young star. The image shows how violent the end stages of the star-formation process can be, with the young object shaking up its stellar nursery.

Despite the celestial colours of this picture, there is nothing peaceful about star forming region Sh 2-106, or S106 for short. A devilish young star, named S106 IR, lies in it and ejects material at high speed, which disrupts the gas and dust around it. The star has a mass about 15 times that of the Sun and is in the final stages of its formation. It will soon quieten down by entering the main sequence, the adult stage of stellar life.

For now, S106 IR remains embedded in its parent cloud, but it is rebelling against it. The material spewing off the star not only gives the cloud its hourglass shape but also makes the hydrogen gas in it very hot and turbulent. The resulting intricate patterns are clearly visible in this Hubble image.

Hubble/Subaru composite of star-forming region S 106
Hubble/Subaru composite of star-forming region S 106

The young star also heats up the surrounding gas, making it reach temperatures of 10 000 degrees Celsius. The star’s radiation ionises the hydrogen lobes, making them glow. The light from this glowing gas is coloured blue in this image.

Separating these regions of glowing gas is a cooler, thick lane of dust, appearing red in the image. This dark material almost completely hides the ionising star from view, but the young object can still be seen peeking through the widest part of the dust lane.

S106 was the 106th object to be catalogued by the astronomer Steward Sharpless in the 1950s. It is a few thousand light-years distant in the direction of Cygnus (The Swan). The cloud itself is relatively small by the standards of star-forming regions, around 2 light-years along its longest axis. This is about half the distance between the Sun and Proxima Centauri, our nearest stellar neighbour.

Ground-based view of the area around star-forming region S 106
Ground-based view of the area around star-forming region S 106

This composite picture was obtained with the Wide Field Camera 3 on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. It results from the combination of two images taken in infrared light and one which is tuned to a specific wavelength of visible light emitted by excited hydrogen gas, known as H-alpha. This choice of wavelengths is ideal for targetting star-forming regions. The H-alpha filter isolates the light emitted from hydrogen in gas clouds while the infrared light can shine through the dust that often obscures these regions.

Contact for further information

Related Links

Science & Exploration

Hubble science highlights

4088 views 11 likes
Read
Hubble Discovers Another Moon Around Pluto
Science & Exploration

New moon found at Pluto

21/07/2011 4052 views 8 likes
Read
N11 is a vigorously active star formation region
Science & Exploration

Hubble captures bubbles and baby stars

22/06/2010 3597 views 5 likes
Read
Jupiter's mysterious flash left no debris
Science & Exploration

Jupiter’s mysterious flashes and missing cloud belts

17/06/2010 4587 views 4 likes
Read
The core of the massive compact star cluster in NGC 3603
Science & Exploration

Hubble catches stars on the move

02/06/2010 6017 views 4 likes
Read
Hubble captures view of ‘Mystic Mountain’
Agency

Starry-eyed Hubble celebrates 20 years of awe and discovery

23/04/2010 12800 views 5 likes
Read
Mass distribution in the COSMOS field
Science & Exploration

Hubble confirms cosmic acceleration with distorted galaxies

25/03/2010 2680 views 3 likes
Read
The giant elliptical galaxy ESO 306-17
Science & Exploration

Bully galaxy rules the neighbourhood

04/03/2010 1665 views 2 likes
Read
The Hubble sequence six billion years ago was very different from the one astronomers see today.
Science & Exploration

Where did today’s spiral galaxies come from?

04/02/2010 8420 views 11 likes
Read
Orion Nebula proplyd atlas
Science & Exploration

Born in beauty: proplyds in the Orion Nebula

14/12/2009 6777 views 4 likes
Read
A Hubble gem: the Jewel Box
Science & Exploration

Opening up a colourful cosmic Jewel Box

29/10/2009 968 views 1 likes
Read
NGC 4522 and NGC 4402
Science & Exploration

Hubble highlights two galaxies that are losing it

30/09/2009 1771 views 0 likes
Read
First images after Servicing Mission 4
Science & Exploration

Rebirth of an icon: Hubble's first images since Servicing M…

09/09/2009 3751 views 1 likes
Read
Hubble eyes new dark spot on Jupiter
Science & Exploration

Hubble captures rare Jupiter collision

24/07/2009 3533 views 0 likes
Read
Astronauts at work on Hubble
Science & Exploration

Historic Hubble Servicing Mission 4 ends with successful la…

24/05/2009 1616 views 0 likes
Read
Space Shuttle Atlantis with Hubble
Science & Exploration

Servicing Mission 4 — the fifth and final visit to Hubble

01/05/2009 1530 views 0 likes
Read
Hubble celebrates 19th anniversary with fountain of youth
Science & Exploration

On Hubble's 19th birthday, a fountain of youth

21/04/2009 2308 views 0 likes
Read