"Eyes" In Space
July 7th 2011 02:27
Category: Nebulas
Messier 78
The sometime seemably bizarre images from space excites the imagination. When I look at images like these I get a sense of wonder.
Looking at this particular image of Messier 78 I must admit I did regress ( only for a moment) into my childhood comic book images of Superman.
When I saw the image the first thing I thought was Kryptonite, Ah well perhaps it was the green tinge in the image that triggered my momentary regression.
The image is very intriguing, at first the image appears to look like a pair of eyes staring back at you.
This eerie image comes from the nebulae located in Messier 78. The two round greenish nebulae are actually very large holes punched out of the surrounding dark dust clouds by newborn stars that are forming.
Messier 78 can be easily seen with a small telescope the nebula is located in the constellation of Orion, near Orion's belt.
The constellation of Orion has another nebula that can be seen with the naked eye called The Great Orion Nebula, M42.
The image taken of Messier 78 was obtained by using the Spitzer's telescope infrared detectors. The infrared portion of the light spectrum revealed the delicate pattern carved out by newly emerging stars.
In time this nebula will grow and expand. Currently this nebula is still in its infancy emerging from a Stella nursery. Eventually the two holes we now see will be filled with many more nebulae,finally the two “eyes” will become many.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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