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Credit & Copyright: R. Thompson
(U. Arizona)
et al.,
NASA
Explanation:
Newborn stars lie at the heart of
the Orion Nebula,
hidden from view by the dust and gas of the giant Orion
Molecular Cloud number 1
(OMC-1).
Sensitive to invisible
infrared wavelengths,
Hubble's recently installed NICMOS camera
can explore
the interior of OMC-1 detecting the infrared radiation from
infant star clusters and
the interstellar dust and atoms energized by their intense starlight.
In this false color picture,
stars and the glowing dust clouds which also scatter the starlight appear
yellowish orange while emission from hydrogen gas is blue.
The dramatic image reveals a wealth of details, including
many filaments and arcs of gas and dust
-- evidence of violent motions stirred-up by the emerging stars.
The bright object near the center is the massive young star "BN"
(named for its discoverers Becklin and Neugebauer).
The pattern of speckles and
ripples surrounding BN and other bright stars are image artifacts.
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Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day