NASA shared an aesthetic view of the blue nebula dubbed as "Cosmic Reef" on its reel highlights. The viral post on Instagram, which was uploaded earlier this week, posed a lot of questions for the viewers. Some wondered if it resembles an undersea formation, while others believed that it's more of an interstellar appearance.
Located 163,000 light-years away from the Earth, this vast region of stars and nebulae features a combination of blue and orange nebulae in one photo. Judging from the clip, what further information can we get from this discovery?
Hubble Space Telescope Features Cosmic Reef
NASA Hubble Space Telescope posted the clip on IG with the caption "Underwater or interstellar?" This paved the way for the viewers to ponder what it closely resembles between the two.
In fact, the star-forming region located in the Large Magellanic Cloud contains a gigantic formation of red nebula called NGC 2014. On the other hand, the much smaller nebula NGC 2020 sports a blue color.
The Hubble Space team mentioned in the caption that the NGC 2014 consists of several stars where each of them could be 10 to 20 times larger than the Sun. Through the ultraviolet radiation from the stars, the surrounding gases around the nebula become hotter.
The color of each nebula has a unique mystery. The red nebula is said to have nitrogen and hydrogen inside, while the calming blue nebula only consists of oxygen.
Furthermore, the Hubble Space Telescope indicated in the caption that NGC 2020 acquired its bluish state from the ejected gas that came from an outer body. It was also written in the caption that a humongous star that is said to be 200,000 times brighter than the Sun was the one that created this formation.
The simulation of the Cosmic Reef explains how the nebulae behave in the universe. The experts utilized the three-dimensional animation for the viewers to visualize what is really happening in space, per NASA.
At the time of writing, the beautiful interstellar photo has over 81,000 likes.
Meanwhile, Phys.org reported that NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft would help scientists to study the moon's surface and search for elements that could hint at the potential presence of life.
Recently, Tech Times wrote in its report that ESO's VLT managed to find the closest black holes to the planet.
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Written by Joseph Henry
