The irresistible charm of the Horsehead Nebula's new look

Europe's Euclid Telescope, named after the Greek mathematician Euclid, launched on July 1 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Since then, Euclid has traveled about 1 million kilometers through space, continuing its six-year mission of taking high-resolution, wide-field images of the universe, looking into the universe's enduring mysteries.

In his latest observations, Euclid discovered the Horsehead Nebula, located about 1,375 light-years from Earth in the constellation Orion. It is one of the most recognizable nebulae, because of its resemblance to a horse's head. Scottish astronomer Williamina Fleming first discovered the nebula on February 6, 1888.

The object is formed from a collapsing cloud of interstellar material, glowing dimly thanks to the illumination from a hot star behind it. The nebula is also shaped by the intense radiation from a nearby star that blows into the column of interstellar material.

In its new form, the gas clouds surrounding the Horsehead have dissipated, but the protruding pillars of interstellar material remain intact, as they are made of durable material that is difficult to erode. According to experts, the Horsehead Nebula has about 5 million years left before it completely disintegrates.

The Euclid Space Telescope has just released a spectacular panoramic image of the Horsehead Nebula. (Image: ESA / Euclid)

Euclid experts say that many other telescopes have captured images of the Horsehead Nebula, but none have captured the Horsehead Nebula in such sharp detail with such a wide field of view, in a single Euclid observation.

“We are particularly interested in this region because star formation is taking place under very special conditions, which are dominated by radiation from the very bright star Sigma Orionis,” said Euclid scientist Dr. Eduardo Martin Guerrero de Escalante.

As Euclid observes this stellar nursery, experts hope to find many Jupiter-mass planets, young brown dwarfs never before discovered.

HUYNH DUNG (Source: Sci.news)

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