Hubble's new images explore 'The Running Man' nebula in breathtaking blue vistas

Since the nebula November is nearing its end, NASA has upped the ante for the quality of nebula images it has been sharing lately. Posting a new picture captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA educates us about 'The Running Man' nebula, a complex of three nebulae. The two images shared by the agency features two different portions of the nebula NGC 1977, where clouds of gas and dust can be seen glowing along with the formation of a jet emerging from a new star. Take a look at the images below.

A young star spotted emitting plasma jets in the first image

The region of space featured in the first image is also a portion of the nebula NGC 1977 and shows a young star named Parengo 2042 powering a jet of plasma that stretches over two light-years through space. The jet is the orange glow in the centre of the image and as per NASA, the colour is being emitted after the ionisation of its gas. Besides, the image also captured 'bow shocks' seen as blue ripples that are facing the star 42 Orionis. Bow shocks got their names after streams of gas collides and move in a crescent shape through space. According to NASA, "This makes it particularly useful to researchers because its outflow remains visible under the ionizing radiation of nearby stars. Typically the outflow of jets like this would only be visible as it collided with surrounding material, creating bright shock waves that vanish as they cool".

Hubble spots bright shock waves in 'The Running Man'

In the second Hubble image, clouds of gas and dust can be seen glowing in what is a Herbig-Haro object known as HH 45. According to NASA, Herbig-Haro is a rare class of nebula that forms when gas and dust around a newborn star collide with the gas ejected by it, resulting in bright shock waves. Here, the blue colour present in the image points towards ionisation of oxygen in the nebula while purple symbolises ionisation of magnesium. The nebula NGC 1977, which houses the object seen in the second image, is a reflection nebula that doesn’t emit its own light but reflects light from nearby stars. "Hubble observed this region to look for stellar jets and planet-forming disks around young stars, and examine how their environment affects the evolution of such disks", says NASA.

Image: Twitter/@NASAHubble