Article Posted on : - Feb 11, 2010

The images of Orion nebula as captured by Vista Space Telescope. An ESO Photo

PARIS (BNS): Peering deep inside the heart of Orion nebula, European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Vista space telescope has captured stunning images of young stars' birth inside the cosmic body’s womb.

The Orion, located 1,350 light years away from Earth, is a vast stellar nursery. It is difficult to delve deep inside the dusty regions of the nebula by using an ordinary telescope.

The Vista, with its infrared vision, has successfully captured these hidden parts of the cosmic object and the “curious behavior” of the very active young stars buried there, ESO said.

The image taken by the telescope shows the Orion in its familiar bat-like shape along with its surrounding region.

At the very heart of this region lie the four bright stars forming the Trapezium – a group of very hot young stars pumping out fierce ultraviolet radiation that is clearing the surrounding region and making the gas glow.

Along with these glowing stars, Vista has also zoomed in on many other young stars in this central region that cannot be seen in visible light. These budding stars eject streams of gas with speeds of 700 000 km/hour.

There are also a few faint, red features below the Orion nebula in the image, showing that stars form there too, but with much less vigour.

These strange features are of great interest to astronomers studying the birth and youth of stars, ESO said.