Protostar Herbig-Haro 3 In Orion
Three-color composite of the young object Herbig-Haro 34 (HH-34), in the protostar stage of evolution. It is based on CCD frames obtained with the FORS2 instrument in imaging mode, on November 2 and 6, 1999. This object has a remarkable, very complicated appearance that includes two opposite jets that ram into the surrounding interstellar matter. This structure is produced by a machine-gun-like blast of "bullets" of dense gas ejected from the star at high velocities (approaching 250 km/sec). This seems to indicate that the star experiences episodic "outbursts" when large chunks of material fall onto it from a surrounding disc. HH-34 is located at a distance of approx. 1,500 light-years, near the famous Orion Nebula, one of the most productive star birth regions. Note also the enigmatic "waterfall" to the upper left, a feature that is still unexplained. The composite of three images was taken through three different filters : B (wavelength 429 nm; Full-Width-Half-Maximum (FWHM) 88 nm; exposure time 10 min; here rendered as blue), H-alpha (centered on the hydrogen emission line at wavelength 656 nm; FWHM 6 nm; 30 min; green) and S II (centrered at the emission lines of inonized sulphur at wavelength 673 nm; FWHM 6 nm; 30 min; red) during a period of arcsec seeing. The field shown measures x arcmin and the images were recorded in frames of 2048 x 2048 pixels, each measuring arcsec. North is up; East is left. Release date November 17, 1999.
Size: 3750px × 3750px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -, 1990s, 20th, 3, 34, 1999, astronomical, astronomy, birth, body, born, celestial, century, cloud, cosmic, deep, formation, heavenly, herbig-haro, hh, hh-34, interstellar, nebula, nebulae, nebulosity, newborn, nursery, object, orion, protostar, region, science, sky, space, star, star-forming, starbirth, stars, stellar
