This new photo of the reflection nebula NGC 1333 was taken in celebration of the 33rd anniversary of the launch of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope on April 24, 1990. The image offers a peek into the chaotic and messy star-formation process. For starters it shows that stars are not born in isolation but in batches. They are built from cold interstellar hydrogen that is laced with soot-like dust. Veils of dust block much of Hubble’s view into the stellar cauldron. But young bright stars do poke out, like seeing sunlight pierce through clouds on a largely overcast day.
NGC 1333 lies at a distance of approximately 1,000 light-years away from Earth and can bee seen within the northern constellation of Perseus.
Also known as Ced 16 and LBN 741, this reflection nebula was first discovered by the German astronomer Eduard Schönfeld in 1855.
NGC 1333 harbors two groups of newly formed stars less than 2 million years old.
“Hubble’s colorful view unveils an effervescent cauldron of glowing gases and pitch-black dust stirred up and blown around by several hundred newly forming stars embedded within the dark cloud,” Hubble astronomers said.
“Even then, Hubble just scratches the surface; most of the star-birthing firestorm is hidden behind clouds of fine dust — essentially soot — that are thicker toward the bottom of the image.”
“The black areas of the image are not empty space, but are filled with obscuring dust.”
To capture the new image of NGC 1333, Hubble peered through a veil of dust on the edge of a giant cloud of cold molecular hydrogen — the raw material for fabricating new stars and planets under the relentless pull of gravity.
“The image underscores the fact that star formation is a messy process in a rambunctious Universe,” the astronomers said.
“Ferocious stellar winds, likely from the bright blue star at the top of the image, are blowing through a curtain of dust. The fine dust scatters the starlight at blue…
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