Cone Nebula
The NASA space telescope produces amazing images
This horrific thing is a pillar of gas and dust, looking like a nightmare beast rising from a sea of blood. This enormous pillar, known as the Cone Nebula because of the conical shape it seems to have in ground-based photographs, is located in an active zone of star formation. This photograph, which was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in April 002, depicts the nebula’s upper 2.5 light-years, or 23 million moon orbits, in height. It takes 7 light years to complete the nebula. 2,500 light-years distant, in the constellation Monoceros, is the Cone Nebula.
Over millions of years, the nebula has been steadily destroyed by radiation from hot, newborn stars. The black cloud’s edges are heated by ultraviolet radiation, which causes gas to be released into the largely empty area of surrounding space. The hydrogen gas glows there as a result of extra UV radiation, creating the red halo of light visible surrounding the pillar. On a much smaller scale, a similar process to the gas encircling a single star takes place, generating the bow-shaped arc shown close to the top left side of the Cone.The diameter of our solar system is 65 times smaller than this arc. Dust reflects the blue-white light that emanates from the nearby stars. The tumultuous base is punctured by stars that have been reddened by dust, while background stars may be seen peeping through the evaporating tendrils of gas. Only the Cone’s densest areas will remain over time. Stars and planets might develop inside of these areas.
