Fiery Image Shows Life and Death of Stars in Vela C
- 3:15 PM
- Categories: Space
Two nebulous blue orbs stand out against a wispy red background in this image of the Vela C region.
Vela C is one of four regions in what is called the Vela Molecular Ridge, a vast complex of gas and dust located 2,300 light-years from Earth and weighing approximately 500,000 times the mass of our sun. Vela C contains more material than any other part of the molecular cloud.
This image, taken by the European Space Agency’s Herschel space observatory, shows off the delicate interplay between gravity and turbulence in Vela C. Gravitational attraction causes the gas and dust to clump, while random motions move the material around. Together, these forces create the beautiful filaments and delicate structures within the region. A long ridge can be seen winding its way through the center of Vela C, with many smaller strands branching away.
This interaction between gravity and turbulence triggers the formation of stars. When bunches of gas and dust grow large enough, they pull in more and more material, eventually leading to higher density and temperature, which ignites a nuclear furnace to power a star. While the turbulent motions counteract this tendency to clump, they can also sometimes push material into regions of high density, provoking more star formation.
In the image, tiny point-like specks can be seen embedded within the gaseous filaments. These are these high-density areas that will eventually become new stars.
Because Vela C is one of the closest star-forming regions and because it is producing stars of low, medium, and high mass, scientists consider it an ideal laboratory to study their theories of star formation. The blue areas of Vela C come from very massive and hot stars, which spew off tons of radiation. These gargantuan stars burn quickly through their fuel, living only 10 million years, compared to our sun’s estimated 10-billion-year lifespan.
When these stars die, they will explode in a dazzling supernova. Though their lives are short, their fiery demise will carve new shapes into the gas and dust of Vela C, pushing material together and generating more stars.