Windblown N44F
Explanation:
A fast and powerful wind from a
hot young star
has created this
stunning bubble-shaped nebula poised on the
end of a bright filament of hydrogen gas.
Cataloged as N44F,
the cosmic windblown bubble is
seen at the left of this Hubble Space Telescope image.
N44F lies along the northern outskirts of the
N44 complex of emission nebulae in the Large
Magellanic Cloud, a mere 160,000 light-years away.
The bright, blue, hot star itself is just below
the center of the bubble.
Peering into the bubble's interior,
the Hubble image
reveals dramatic structures, including pillars of
dust, aligned toward N44F's hot central star.
Reminiscent of
dust pillars in
stellar nursery's within
our Milky Way galaxy,
they likely contain young stars at
their tips.
Expanding into the surrounding gas and dust at about
12 kilometers per second, N44F is around 35 light-years across.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
