Astronomers have captured an image of a “dark nebula” being torn apart by rowdy infant stars in the Circinus West molecular cloud. The National Science Foundation’s Dark Energy Camera revealed a stunning glimpse into this cosmic battle, which is about 2,500 light-years from Earth.
The dark cloud, estimated to be 180 light-years across, contains the equivalent mass of 250,000 suns and is an active stellar nursery where cold gas collapses into newborn stars. The infant stars have erupted with enormous jets of ionizing energy, pushing through the gloom to make themselves known.
The Dark Energy Camera, mounted atop the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, has captured more telltale structures indicative of star formation, including Herbig-Haro objects that form when fast-moving gas released by young stars crashes into slower-moving gas. These regions create lightsaber-like jets of colorful radiation.
Studying this region is providing a “natural laboratory” for understanding the dynamics of star formation and the evolution of molecular clouds and galaxies. The researchers suggest that our own solar system may have formed under similar conditions, offering clues about its chaotic history.
Source: https://www.livescience.com/space/astronomy/scientists-spot-a-dark-nebula-being-torn-apart-by-rowdy-infant-stars-offering-clues-about-our-own-solar-systems-past