The Hubble observations were supported by other state-of-the-art observatories including ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. ALMA is composed of 66 moveable high-precision antennas that can be organized over ranges of as much as 16 kilometers (10 miles) on a plateau perched high in the Chilean Andes. More data were contributed by the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), which is a telescope that– until recently– ran out of a converted 747 airplane.
Hubble Space Telescope picture of protostellar object OH 339.88-1.26, which lies 8,900 light-years from Earth in the constellation Ara. Credit: ESA/Hubble & & NASA, J. Tan
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has actually recorded an entrancing dust-filled picture of the protostellar object OH 339.88-1.26. Located 8,900 light-years away in the constellation Ara. This image showcases winding lanes of dark dust intertwined with bright stars, their radiance stressed by crisscrossing diffraction spikes.
Unveiling the Secrets of OH 339.88-1.26.
The dark vertical streak in the center of the image conceals OH 339.88-1.26, which is an astrophysical maser. A maser– which is an acronym for “microwave amplification by promoted emission of radiation”– is essentially a laser that produces coherent light at microwave wavelengths. These intriguing phenomena naturally develop in a variety of astrophysical contexts, from the north pole of Jupiter to star-forming regions like the one depicted here.
Hubbles Deep Dive into Star Formation.
This image originates from a set of Hubble observations that peer into the hearts of regions where huge stars are born, with the goal of constraining the nature of massive protostars and screening theories of their development. Astronomers turned to Hubbles Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) to explore five intermediate-mass protostars at infrared wavelengths.
By ESA/Hubble
August 27, 2023
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has actually captured an entrancing dust-filled image of the protostellar object OH 339.88-1.26. The dark vertical streak in the center of the image conceals OH 339.88-1.26, which is an astrophysical maser. The Hubble observations were supported by other modern observatories including ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.