Black Widow Nebula
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Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/
E Churchwell/GLIMPSE
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An emission nebula that lies about 10,000
light years from Earth, just above the galactic plane, in the constellation
Circinus. Nearly invisible at optical wavelengths
due to the absorption of light by dust in the Galaxy's disk, the Black Widow
Nebula was first seen clearly in 2005 at infrared wavelengths by NASA's
Spitzer Space Telescope
and its Infrared Array Camera (IRAC). Spitzer captured wispy streams of
dust, flowing like spider's legs from the center of the nebula, where massive
young stars are forming. These infant suns are spewing out radiation and
particles to create two bubbles that are moving away from each other in
opposite directions. They are basically destroying and dispersing the remnants
of the material from which they were formed.
Related category
• NEBULAE
AND STAR CLUSTERS
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