HST reveals growth processes of young star

A NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (HST) image of a vast cloud of gas being heated by the birth of a new star. This image is being presented at the 182nd meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Berkeley, California.

Called Herbig-Haro object #2 (HH-2), the cloud is heated by shock waves from jets of high speed gas being ejected from a newborn star. Because the star itself is embedded in a dusty cocoon, HH-2 provides the only visible clues to physical processes occurring in the young star. The Hubble observations made with the Wide Field/Planetary Camera WF/PC) provide new insight into similar events that probably occurred when our Sun and Solar System formed 4.6 billion years ago.