News in Brief Astronomy

Squabbles in star nurseries result in celestial fireworks

Images of streamers of gas and dust reveal power of explosive interactions

composite image of stellar nursery

STELLAR FIRECRACKER  An interaction of young stars in Orion Molecular Core 1 ripped apart a stellar nursery, sending stars, gas and dust shooting into space. In this image — a composite of data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array and the Gemini South telescope, both in Chile — gas moving quickly toward Earth is blue, while slower-moving gas is redder.

J. Bally; B. Saxton (NRAO, AUI, NSF), ALMA (ESO, NAOJ, NRAO); Gemini Observatory/AURA

By Ashley Yeager

- More than 2 years ago

A stellar game of chicken between two young stars about 500 years ago has produced some fantastic celestial fireworks, new images released on April 7 by the European Southern Observatory reveal.