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May the force be with you! The Hubble Telescope takes a photo of a blue gas jet in the constellation Orion that looks like a lightsaber
- The Hubble Space Telescope took a photo of a Herbig-Haro object that looks like a lightsaber
- HH111 is a “relatively rare celestial phenomenon” and is found in the constellation Orion
- Herbig-Haro objects occur when stars are newly formed and project rapidly moving jets of ionized gas’
- The photo was taken by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3, which can see in visible and infrared light.
The force is strong with this one.
The Hubble Space Telescope took a photo of a Herbig-Haro object in the constellation Orion that looks amazingly like a Star Wars lightsaber.
Known as HH111, this “relatively rare celestial phenomenon” was photographed by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), according to a statement from the European Space Agency.
“These spectacular objects are formed under very specific circumstances,” ESA said.
The Hubble Space Telescope took a photo of a lightsaber-like Herbig-Haro object, known as HH111
This object is a “relatively rare celestial phenomenon” and is found in the constellation Orion (photo)
Hubble’s WFC3 takes visible and infrared light images, allowing astronomers to see objects more clearly through the gas and dust of space.
ESA added that when stars are newly formed, they are often very active and emit “fast-moving jets of ionized gas.”
This gas gets so hot that “its molecules and atoms have lost their electrons, which makes the gas very charged,” ESA explained.
The ionized gas eventually collides with the clouds of gas and dust that surround the newly formed stars at hundreds of kilometers per second.
But because they release so much light at optical wavelengths, they’re hard to see.
“Therefore, the ability of WFC3 to observe at infrared wavelengths, where observations are not as affected by gas and dust, is crucial to successfully observe Herbo-Haro objects,” ESA added. .
According to NASA, the Herbig-Haro objects are “luminous patches of cloudiness associated with newborn stars”.
They usually take the form of thin jets of partially ionized gas in deep space that are “ejected by stars and collide with clouds of gas and dust nearby,” the space agency added. American.
In 2015, Hubble took an image of another Herbig-Haro object, HH24, which also looks like a lightsaber.
NASA went so far as to mention Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens and the fact that it looks like a “cosmic double-bladed lightsaber” in its description.
HH24 is located in the Orion B molecular cloud complex, approximately 1350 light years from Earth.
The photo was taken by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3, which can see in visible and infrared light.
Last month, Hubble’s WFC3 was responsible for posting an image of a stellar nursery, AFGL 5180, 5,000 light years from Earth.
The Hubble, which has been in operation for more than 30 years, is expected to be replaced by the $ 10 billion James Webb Telescope when it launches later this year.
Scientists study the atmosphere of distant exoplanets using huge space satellites like Hubble
Distant stars and their orbiting planets often have different conditions than anything we see in our atmosphere.
To understand these new worlds and what they are made of, scientists must be able to detect what their atmosphere is.
They often do this using a telescope similar to NASA’s Hubble Telescope.
These huge satellites scan the sky and attach themselves to exoplanets that NASA says could be of interest.
Here, on-board sensors perform different forms of analysis.
One of the most important and useful is absorption spectroscopy.
This form of analysis measures the light that comes out of a planet’s atmosphere.
Each gas absorbs a slightly different wavelength of light, and when this happens, a black line appears over a full spectrum.
These lines correspond to a very precise molecule, which indicates its presence on the planet.
They are often referred to as the Fraunhofer lines after the German astronomer and physicist who first discovered them in 1814.
By combining all of the different wavelengths of lights, scientists can determine all of the chemicals that make up a planet’s atmosphere.
The key is that what is missing provides the clues to find out what is present.
It is vitally important that this be done by space telescopes, as the Earth’s atmosphere would then interfere.
Absorbing chemicals into our atmosphere would distort the sample, which is why it’s important to study the light before it has a chance to reach Earth.
This is often used to search for helium, sodium, and even oxygen in alien atmospheres.
This diagram shows how light passing from a star and through the atmosphere of an exoplanet produces Fraunhofer lines indicating the presence of key compounds such as sodium or helium.
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