Astronomers photograph a “dark tower” in space

The staff of the European Southern Observatory has published a picture of a very remarkable object. Externally, it somewhat resembles a dark tower, spread out in the middle of the vast expanses of space.

Cometary globule GN 16.43.7.01. Source: ESO/VPHAS+ team

In fact, the captured object is known by the designation GN 16.43.7.01. It is located 5,000 light-years from Earth towards the constellation Scorpio and is classified as a cometary globule. 

This name is misleading. Just as planetary nebulae have nothing to do with planets, cometary globules have nothing to do with comets. Astronomers once called them so because of their appearance — like comets, they have a dusty head and an elongated dark tail. And this name has become fixed, becoming traditional.

GN 16.43.7.01 contains dense clumps of collapsing gas and dust, from which new stars and planets will be born in the future.The bizarre shape of this object is associated with the intense impact of powerful radiation, the source of which is a cluster of young bright stars (they are located outside the field of view of the camera in the upper left corner). This radiation partially dispersed and partially ionized the substance surrounding the globule. As a result, it began to glow pink, highlighting its dark contours.

Earlier, we talked about how James Webb photographed a gigantic stellar maternity ward in a neighboring galaxy.

According to https://www.eso.org

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