Astronomy Picture of the Day
    


Cosmic Tornado HH 49 50
<< Yesterday 3.02.2006 Tomorrow >>
Cosmic Tornado HH 49 50
Credit & Copyright: J. Bally (Univ. of Colo.) et al., JPL-Caltech, NASA
Explanation: Light-years in length, this cosmic tornado is actually a powerful jet cataloged as HH (Herbig-Haro) 49/50 blasting down from the top of a Spitzer Space Telescope view. Though such energetic outflows are well known to be associated with the formation of young stars, the exact cause of the spiraling structures apparent in this case is still mysterious. The embryonic star responsible for the 100-kilometer per second jet is located just off the top of the picture, while the bright star seen near the tip of the jet may just by chance lie along the line of sight. In the false-color infrared image, the tornado glows with infrared light generated as the outflow heats surrounding dust clouds. The color coding shows a trend from red to blue hues at the tornado's tip indicating a systematic increase in emission at shorter wavelengths. The trend is thought to indicate an increase in molecular excitation closer to where the head of the jet is impacting interstellar gas. HH49/50 is about 450 light-years distant, located in the Chamaeleon I molecular cloud,

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
 < February 2006  >
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su


12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728




Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.

Based on Astronomy Picture Of the Day

Publications with keywords: young stars - star formation - Herbig-Haro object - molecular cloud - jet
Publications with words: young stars - star formation - Herbig-Haro object - molecular cloud - jet
See also:
All publications on this topic >>