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Celestial snow angel

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December 24, 2014

The bipolar star-forming region, called Sharpless 2-106, looks like a soaring, celestial snow angel. Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Read more about this image. — This space object is called Sharpless 2-106. Image via NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Read more about this image.

This Hubble Space Telescope image, taken in 2011, shows a beautiful star-forming nebula. Astronomers call it Sharpless 2-106, Sh2-106 or S106 for short. It’s located some 2,000 light-years from Earth. The twin lobes of super-hot gas here stretch outward from a central star. The hot gas creates the “wings” of what might looks to us like a snow angel. A ring of dust and gas orbits the central star acts like a belt, and cinches the expanding nebula into an “hourglass” shape.

The whole nebula measures several light-years in length. It appears in a relatively isolated region of the Milky Way galaxy.

Deborah Byrd

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Deborah Byrd (asteroid 3505 Byrd) helps edit EarthSky.org and is a frequent host of EarthSky videos. Deborah created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Prior to that, she had worked for the University of Texas McDonald Observatory since 1976, and created and produced their Star Date radio series. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named in her honor in 1990, a Public Service Award from the National Science Board in 2003, and the Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society in 2020. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.