Prawn Nebula: Cosmic recycling
Wednesday, September 2, 2015 - 05:30
in Astronomy & Space
Dominating this image is part of the nebula Gum 56, illuminated by the hot bright young stars that were born within it. For millions of years stars have been created out of the gas in this nebula, material which is later returned to the stellar nursery when the aging stars either expel their material into space or eject it as supernova explosions. This image was taken with the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope in Chile.