It 's a true masterpiece of colors and nuances of this image of the telescope MPG / ESO located in La Silla, Chile This incredible "canvas" and portrayed the diffuse nebula reflection Messier 78 (or NGC 2068). Agglomerations of interstellar gas and dust that make up the brush strokes look really rather that of Michelangelo, Botticelli.
M 78 is visible in the constellation Orion, the hunter, and though 1350 light-years away from us (about 410 parsecs), is the brightest nebula reflection of the sky. The phrase "reflection" since the radiation (in this case, ultraviolet) emitted by the stars present in it is not such power to enable it to ionize the gas and then make it visible. What we see is nothing but the reflection of light hitting the gas, like a gigantic mirror. This light is then divided into small bundles of fine particles that make blue eye. And this wavelength of light can more easily spread than the red and green that make up the infrared, for example.
The two principal stars are HD 38563A and HD 38563B, of magnitude 10 (imperceptible to the human eye) illuminating the dust located within 4 light-years away.
In dazzling nebula there are also 45 T Tauri stars, ie stars not yet an adult (protostars) and therefore not cataloged on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. For example, some of them might have a protoplanetary disk, but no planets may have already stable and well formed. In the nebula, there are 17 Herbig-Haro objects, that is not very bright reflection nebulae that have a life when the ionized gas in the plasma state (drawn from the poles of the protostar) impact vehemently with very dense clouds. The shock wave caused by the impact sets in motion the surrounding atoms, which expel some of the energy absorbed by electromagnetic waves, which causes them to light (the phenomenon of triboluminescenza). Do not worry if you do not understand, this is quite complex astrophysics.
conclusion, this is the first really famous painting of this telescope (which is part of a much more famous, the outcome), we only hope that is not the last.
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