WOW: Very Large Telescope captures stunning pics of bubbly ‘champagne flow’ nebula

WOW: Very Large Telescope captures stunning pics of bubbly ‘champagne flow’ nebula

Stars being blasted into the blackness of space by a powerful nebula was captured by astronomers using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile.

Astronomers have captured an amazing shot of what has been called the “champagne flow” nebula as hot hydrogen gas ejects stars into space, creating a unique pattern that resembles a cascading stream of bubbly.

Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope situated in Chile, astronomers took a close look at stars inside nebula RCW 34, which is found in the constellation Vela, and the image they took was released yesterday along with a video, according to a Space.com report.

So what exactly is happening in the picture? Scientists say it’s what happens when gas reaches the end of the nebula, exploding into the emptiness of space to form a pattern resembling a champagne flow due to its “bubbles.”

There’s a few other interesting aspects about RCW 34, not the least of which is the fact that astronomers noticed a lot of hydrogen clumping around older stars in the nebula, and not much can be found in the outskirts, unlike with most nebula where the same cloud of stars would usually be around the same age. This indicates to astronomers that there were probably a few bursts of sudden star formation, and the oldest stars in the middle represented the first of those bursts.

This huge quantity of space dust makes it difficult to look inside the insides of the “stellar nursery,” as the scientists termed it. So they are using infrared telescopes to look through the dust and study the stars that are nestled deep inside.

The vast amounts of gas that are found in the nebula typically lead to a large amount of star formation. Ionized hydrogen is common in regions where lots of star formation takes place.

Be social, please share!

Facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail