Outbursts from a newborn star

A pair of jets protrude outwards in near-perfect symmetry in this image of Herbig-Haro object (HH) 212, taken by ESO’s already decommissioned Infrared Spectrometer And Array Camera (ISAAC).

The object lies in the constellation of Orion (The Hunter) in a dense molecular star-forming region, not far from the famous Horsehead Nebula. In regions like this, clouds of dust and gas collapse under the force of gravity, spinning faster and faster and becoming hotter and hotter until a young star ignites at the cloud’s centre. Any leftover material swirling around the newborn protostar comes together to form an accretion disc that will, under the right circumstances, eventually evolve to form the base material for the creation of planets, asteroids and comets.

Although this process is still not fully understood, it is common that a protostar and its accretion disc, as seen here edge-on, are the cause of the jets in this image. The star at the centre of HH 212 is indeed a very young star, at only a few thousand years old. Its jets are remarkably symmetric, with several knots appearing at relatively stable intervals. This stability suggests that the jet pulses vary quite regularly, and over a short timescale — maybe even as short as 30 years! Further out from the centre, large bow shocks spread out into interstellar space, caused by ejected gas colliding with dust and gas at speeds of several hundred kilometres per second.

Credit:

ESO/M. McCaughrean

About the Image

Id:potw1541a
Type:Observation
Release date:12 October 2015, 10:00
Size:1548 x 963 px

About the Object

Name:HH 212
Type:Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Star Formation
Milky Way : Star : Evolutionary Stage : Young Stellar Object
Distance:1400 light years
Constellation:Orion
Category:Stars

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Coordinates

Position (RA):5 43 50.64
Position (Dec):-1° 3' 11.46"
Field of view:3.83 x 2.39 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 90.2° right of vertical

Colours & filters

BandTelescope
Very Large Telescope
ISAAC