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Credit: Gemini Observatory/National Science Foundation/C. Aspin
This dramatic infrared image sheds new light on the early stages of the formation of giant stars in our galaxy. The image, taken by the Gemini Near Infrared Imager (NIRI) instrument on the Gemini North telescope, reveals remarkable details in a nebula of gas and dust expelled from a young star named AFGL 2591. This expulsion is a common feature in the formation of stars similar in size to the Sun, but it is far less common in their massive counterparts.
AFGL 2591 is located within the Milky Way more than 3,000 light-years from Earth, in the constellation of Cygnus. Over the course of the last few thousand years, it has created a vast expanding nebula larger than 500 times the diameter of our solar system. The star is at least 10 times the size of the Sun, and over 20,000 times as bright, but perhaps only one million years old.
The whispy white and blue structure in the expanding nebula to the right of the young star is a huge outflow of gas and dust driven by the infall of material onto the star's surface. Gemini scientists believe that the outflow is likely occurring symmetrically around the star - a second giant-sized expanding nebula to the left of the star is hidden from view by a dense and extensive disk (or torus) of material encircling AFGL 2591.
The resolution of this image is 0.4 arc-sec.
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NOAO is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc. under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. Last updated 23 July, 2001. |
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