Hubble captures the rare sight of a superheated gas jet streaking across space
All that emptiness in outer space leaves lots of room for gorgeous galactic fireworks shows.
What you're seeing here, according to NASA, is a "relatively rare celestial phenomenon" called a Herbig-Haro object. It's created when ionized gas expelled by a young star collides with the clouds of dust and gas that surround these new (relatively speaking) stellar formations.
This Herbig-Haro object, named HH111, comes to us compliments of the Hubble Space Telescope and its Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3).
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The expelled gas is ionized by a young star when the intense heat in these regions of space causes the atoms and molecules making up the gas to lose their electrons. That charged gas speeds away from its source, and it collides with the physical matter surrounding the young star as it goes. These collisions create the streaking bursts of light you see in HH111, and they're the building blocks of Herbig-Haro objects in general.
This view of HH111 was made possible by Hubble's WFC3 because of how it captures light. As NASA explains, while Herbig-Haro objects are visible inside the optical range that human eyes can detect, all that dust and gas around the star makes that light difficult to see. But the WFC3 picks up light along the ultraviolet and infrared spectrums as well, and the latter in particular is useful for cutting through the stellar debris.
The result is this beautiful, blue-tinged streak of light cutting across space. A Hubble report from more than two decades ago describes how a cosmic tug-of-war between three stars led to the creation of this Herbig-Haro object.
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
