Saturday, January 07, 2006

Superbubble NGC 1929












This image of superbubble complex NGC 1929 was released recently by the Gemini Observatory. From the press release: Known as the N44 superbubble complex, this cloudy tempest is dominated by a vast bubble about 325 by 250 light-years across. A cluster of massive stars inside the cavern has cleared away gas to form a distinctive mouth-shaped hollow shell. While astronomers do not agree on exactly how this bubble has evolved for up to the past 10 million years, they do know that the central cluster of massive stars is responsible for the cloud's unusual appearance. It is likely that the explosive death of one or more of the cluster’s most massive and short-lived stars played a key role in the formation of the large bubble.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yeah - this is beautiful! I don't understand how the massive stars in the cavern caused the hollow shell - can you explain?

2:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The prof at Cal explained this to me once. Big stars eject a lot of material real fast. It like wind blowing fog away from a beach only in all directions to make a shell.

4:46 PM  
Blogger Zosia A. C. Krusberg said...

the above comment is basically right on. the most massive stars (of type O and B) have very strong stellar winds that carry material away from the star at high speeds. these winds then slam into the interstellar medium and set up a shock wave (which we observe as a shell around the star).

9:34 AM  
Blogger mawiiiah said...

a BUBBLE???+++ lol. okay everyone's gonna be like WOAH so she has a sis who doesn't understand ANYTHING she does haha.

4:45 PM  

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