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    Hubble Heritage Project's First Anniversary

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    Hubble Heritage Project's First Anniversary

    WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, UNITED STATES

    09.22.2009

    Courtesy Photo

    NASA

    *Description*: HH 32 is an excellent example of a "Herbig-Haro object," which is formed when young stars eject jets of material back into interstellar space. This object, about 1,000 light-years from Earth, is somewhat older than Hubble's variable nebula, and the wind from the bright central star has already cleared much of the dust out of the central region, thus exposing the star to direct view. Many young stars, like the central object in HH 32, are surrounded by disks of gas and dust that form as additional material is attracted gravitationally from the surrounding nebula. Material in the disk gradually spirals in toward the star and eventually some of it accretes onto the star, increasing its mass. A fraction of the gas, however, is ejected perpendicularly to the disk at speeds near 200 miles per second, and forms two oppositely directed jets. These jets plow into the surrounding nebula, producing strong shock waves that heat the gas and cause it to glow in the light of hydrogen atoms (green) and sulfur ions (blue), several other atoms and ions, and sometimes radiation from the exciting star that is reflected by the surrounding gas (red). This glow is called a Herbig-Haro object, in honor of astronomers George Herbig and Guillermo Haro, who did much of the early work in this area in the 1950's. The jet on the top side, whose furthest extent is about 0.2 light-year from the star, is pointed more nearly in our direction, while the opposite jet on the bottom lies on the far side of the star and is fainter either because it is partially obscured by dust surrounding the star or because there is much less material in front of the star. The Hubble Heritage team (NASA/AURA/STScI) made this image from observations of Herbig-Haro 32 acquired by Salvador Curiel, Jorge Cant", Alejandro Raga, (UNAM), Alberto Noriega-Crespo (IPAC), and collaborators. Technical facts about this news release: About the Object Object Name: Herbig-Haro 32 HH 32 Object Description: Herbig-Haro Object Position (J2000): R.A. 19h 20m 33.13s Dec. +11° 01' 20.09" Constellation: Aquila Distance: 300 pc (960 light-years) from Earth Dimensions: The image is 1.6 arcminutes on the vertical side. The end of the optical jet is 40" (~12,000 AU) from the central star. The total length of the bipolar outflow is about 0.17 parsecs or 0.54 light-years. About the Data Instrument: WFPC2 Exposure Date: August 25, 1994 Exposure Time: 3.8 hours Filters: Red: F675W (R), Green: F656N (H-alpha), Blue: F673N ([S II]) Principal Astronomers: S. Curiel, Jorge Cantó, Alejandro Raga (Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), Alberto Noriega-Crespo (IPAC), and collaborators. About this Image Image Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Release Date: October 7, 1999 12:00 pm EDT Orientation: North is toward the left of the image. What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. To mark the first anniversary of the Hubble Heritage Project, we present four Hubble telescope images of nebulae surrounding stars in our own Milky Way Galaxy. Two of these visible-light pictures show interstellar gas and dust around young stars at the beginning of their lives, and two more show gas ejected from old stars that are nearing the end of theirs. Remarkably, in spite of the completely different evolutionary stages, the nebulae have more striking features in common, including evidence of diametrically opposed gas ejections from both the young and old stars. *News Release Number:*: STScI-1999-35a

    NASA Identifier: SPD-HUBBLE-STScI-1999-35a

    IMAGE INFO

    Date Taken: 09.22.2009
    Date Posted: 10.10.2012 14:51
    Photo ID: 701324
    Resolution: 1229x1536
    Size: 177.27 KB
    Location: WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, US

    Web Views: 114
    Downloads: 16

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