Hubble’s Stunning Glimpse Into the Orion Nebula Reveals a Bustling Nursery of Young Stars

Glimpse Into the Orion Nebula

The Hubble Space Telescope’s latest Picture of the Week offers a stunning glimpse into the Orion Nebula, the closest massive star-forming region to Earth. Located just 1,300 light-years away, this nebula is visible to the naked eye beneath the three stars of Orion’s Belt. It’s a bustling nursery of young stars, including the focus of this image: the protostars HOPS 150 and HOPS 153.

Unveiling Young Protostars

HOPS 150 and HOPS 153 were named through the Herschel Orion Protostar Survey, conducted with ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory. Visible in the upper-right corner of this image, HOPS 150 is a binary system comprising two young protostars orbiting each other. Each protostar is surrounded by a dusty disk of material from which it is still feeding. A dark cloud of gas and dust, more than 2,000 times the Earth-Sun distance in width, cuts across the bright glow of this pair as it falls inward toward them. Based on the infrared and other wavelengths of light emitted by HOPS 150, astronomers estimate these protostars are midway through their transformation into mature stars.

Stellar Drama in Infrared

Extending across the left side of the image is a narrow, colorful outflow called a jet. This jet comes from the nearby protostar HOPS 153, out of frame. HOPS 153 is a significantly younger stellar object than its neighbor, still deeply embedded in its birth nebula and enshrouded by a cloud of cold, dense gas. While Hubble cannot penetrate this gas to see the protostar, the jet HOPS 153 has emitted is brightly visible as it plows into the surrounding gas and dust of the Orion Nebula.

The Star-Formation Symphony

The transition from tightly swaddled protostar to fully fledged star will dramatically affect HOPS 153’s surroundings. As gas falls onto the protostar, its jets spew material and energy into interstellar space, carving out bubbles and heating the gas. By stirring up and warming nearby gas, HOPS 153 may regulate the formation of new stars in its neighborhood and even slow its own growth.

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