Our Universe is a pretty dusty place, as a new image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope clearly demonstrates. It captures the billowing clouds of gas and dust near the Tarantula Nebula.
The Tarantula Nebula is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy that is a companion to our Milky Way. It is the largest region of active star formation in the nearby Universe and is home to some of the brightest and most massive luminaries known to science. The best known of these is the blue hypergiant R136a1, whose mass exceeds the solar mass up to 200 times. In addition, the supernova SN 1987A erupted at the edge of the nebula in 1987. It was the first supernova observed in the Earth’s sky with the naked eye in more than 300 years.
In the Hubble image, the nebula’s multicolored gas clouds intersect with fluffy filaments and dark clumps of dust. This dust is different from the household dust we are used to, which can consist of particles of earth, skin cells, hair, and even plastic. Cosmic dust is typically made up of carbon or molecules called silicates, which contain silicon and oxygen.
Dust plays several important roles in the Universe. Although individual dust grains are incredibly tiny (much smaller than the width of a human hair), in the disks around young stars they stick together to form larger grains and eventually planets. It also helps cool clouds of gas so they can condense into new stars. Dust even plays a role in creating new molecules in interstellar space, giving individual atoms a chance to find each other and bond in the vastness of space.
In addition to dust, the Hubble image shows many of the stars that inhabit the nebula. Depending on the depth, they are colored blue, purple or red. The photo was taken as part of a program to study the properties of cosmic dust in galaxies close to us.
Earlier we reported on how astronomers managed to make a three-dimensional map of the Ring Nebula.
According to Esahubble
