* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: NGC1999

Blobrana · L

Herschel finds a hole in space

ESA's Herschel infrared space telescope has made an unexpected discovery: a hole in space. The hole has provided astronomers with a surprising glimpse into the end of the star-forming process.
Stars are born in dense clouds of dust and gas that can now be studied in unprecedented detail with Herschel. Although jets and winds of gas have been seen coming from young stars in the past, it has always been a mystery exactly how a star uses these to blow away its surroundings and emerge from its birth cloud. Now, for the first time, Herschel may be seeing an unexpected step in this process.
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NGC 1999 Bok Globule
The dark nebula , called a Bok globule, is a large condensation of cold molecular gas and dust that is blocking light from the NGC 1999 reflection nebula.

Google Sky File (.kmz)

Blobrana · L

South of the large star-forming region known as the Orion Nebula, lies bright blue reflection nebula NGC 1999. The nebula is marked with a tiny dark inverted T-shaped dot in the middle of the bluewhite glow.
The dark shape is a dense gas and dust cloud, or Bok globule, seen in silhouette against the bright nebula, and likely a site of future star formation. At the edge of the Orion molecular cloud complex some 1,500 light-years distant, NGC 1999's illumination is provided by the embedded variable star V380 Orionis.
The region abounds with energetic young stars producing jets and outflows that create luminous shock waves, including HH (Herbig-Haro) 1 and 2 just below and left of NGC 1999, and the apparent cascade of reddish arcs and bow shocks beginning at the upper right. The stellar jets and outflows push through the surrounding material at speeds of hundreds of kilometres per second. HH objects HH1 and HH2 lie about a light year apart, symmetrically opposite a young star which is ejecting material along its polar axis

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Position(2000.0): R.A. = 05h 36m 30.0s Dec. = -06° 42' 00"

NGC 1999 was discovered some two centuries ago by Sir William Herschel and his sister Caroline, and was catalogued later in the 19th century as object 1999 in the New General Catalogue.
The image spans over 10 light-years.