By ESA/Hubble
October 23, 2022
NGC 1999 is around 1350 light-years from Earth and lies near the Orion Nebula, the closest region of massive star development to Earth. Found roughly 1350 light-years from Earth, NGC 1999 lies near the Orion Nebula, which is the closest area of massive star formation to Earth. NGC 1999 itself is an antique of current star development– it is made up of detritus left over from the development of a newborn star.
Hubble Space Telescope portrait showcases NGC 1999, a reflection nebula in the constellation Orion. NGC 1999 is around 1350 light-years from Earth and lies near the Orion Nebula, the closest region of massive star development to Earth. Credit: ESA/Hubble & & NASA, K. Noll
NGC 1999, a reflection nebula in the constellation Orion is showcased in this strange portrait from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Located around 1350 light-years from Earth, NGC 1999 lies near the Orion Nebula, which is the closest region of massive star development to Earth. In fact, NGC 1999 itself is an antique of current star formation– it is composed of detritus left over from the development of a newborn star.
Simply like fog curling around a street lamp, reflection nebulae like NGC 1999 only shine because of the light from an ingrained source. In the case of NGC 1999, this source is the previously mentioned newborn star which is noticeable at the center of this image. Named V380 Orionis, this star is believed to be someplace between 1 and 3 million years of ages. The most noteworthy element of NGC 1999s look, nevertheless, is the obvious hole in its center, which resembles an inky-black keyhole of cosmic percentages.
This image was developed from archival Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFC2) observations that date from shortly after Servicing Mission 3A in 1999. At the time, astronomers believed that the dark spot in NGC 1999 was something called a Bok globule– a dense, cold cloud of gas, molecules, and cosmic dust that blots out background light. Follow-up observations utilizing a collection of telescopes including ESAs Herschel Space Observatory revealed that the dark spot is actually an empty area of space. The origin of this inexplicable rift in the heart of NGC 1999 stays unknown.