Keyhole

NASA and The Hub­ble Her­itage Team (STScI)

A glow­ing key­hole beck­ons in this star-forming region of the galaxy toward the con­stel­la­tion Orion. NASA’s Hub­ble Space Tele­scope shows the foggy light of the reflec­tion neb­ula NGC 1999.

Explore the neb­ula. Reflec­tion neb­u­lae do shine with light of their own. NGC 1999 reflect the light of a bright, recently formed star. The star called V380 Ori­o­nis glows just left of cen­ter in the image. NGC 1999 is the cloud from which the star orig­i­nally formed. Because the star is still enshrouded in this cloud, astronomers believe that V380 Ori­o­nis is still very young. It’s white light indi­cates the star is hot; about twice as hot as our Sun at 10,000 degrees Centi­grade. V380 Ori­o­nis also is about 3.5 times more mas­sive than the Sun.

The key­hole itself is not a hole at all but an exam­ple of inky, dark star clouds called Bok glob­ules. These cold, dense clouds of dust and gas are named after their dis­cov­erer, Amer­i­can astronomer Bart Bok. These clouds are so dense that they block all light behind it. Sim­i­larly on Earth, dark storm clouds block the Sun on a sum­mer day allow­ing the edges to glow brightly. Astronomers believe that the glob­ules are con­tract­ing due to their own grav­ity. One day, new stars may form inside these globules.

Sir William Her­schel and his sis­ter Car­o­line dis­cov­ered NGC 1999 in the late 1700s. The neb­ula lies about 1,500 light-years from Earth. You can find it in night skies just below the Great Neb­ula in Orion, M42.