INTERSTELLAR TORNADOES
Artwork
DETAILS
Author:
A. Caulet (ST-ECF, ESA) and NASA
Document Type: Artwork
Category: Art of Physics
Date: Unknown
Notes:
This NASA Hubble Space telescope image reveals a pair of one-half light-year long interstellar "twisters" - eerie funnels and twisted-rope structures - in the heart of the Lagoon Nebula. The Lagoon Nebula is one of several sites where new stars are being born from dusty molecular clouds. These regions are the "space laboratories" for the astronomers to study how stars form and the interactions between the winds from stars and the gas nearby. Analogous to the spectacular phenomena of Earthly tornadoes, these cosmic twisters are thought to be the result of horizontal twisting shear caused by the combination of large difference in temperature between the hot surface and cold interior of the clouds and the pressure of starlight. Future observations will be necessary to validate this picture.
Links:
http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/...
Text record edited by Fine Admin at 2005-11-29 15:24:40
Document Type: Artwork
Category: Art of Physics
Date: Unknown
Notes:
This NASA Hubble Space telescope image reveals a pair of one-half light-year long interstellar "twisters" - eerie funnels and twisted-rope structures - in the heart of the Lagoon Nebula. The Lagoon Nebula is one of several sites where new stars are being born from dusty molecular clouds. These regions are the "space laboratories" for the astronomers to study how stars form and the interactions between the winds from stars and the gas nearby. Analogous to the spectacular phenomena of Earthly tornadoes, these cosmic twisters are thought to be the result of horizontal twisting shear caused by the combination of large difference in temperature between the hot surface and cold interior of the clouds and the pressure of starlight. Future observations will be necessary to validate this picture.
Links:
http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/...
Text record edited by Fine Admin at 2005-11-29 15:24:40
