UNITED STATES: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Chandra X-ray Observatory has released a composite image that depicts a section of the 5,000-light-year-distance Rosette Nebula.
Named for its rose-shaped configuration, this starry image can initially resemble a human skull, but it is just an optical illusion.
The space agency posted the photograph on its Instagram page and stated, “In space, a star cluster resembles a vibrant human skull.” “Near the image’s centre, hundreds of newborn stars can be seen in red X-ray measurements.”
“The skeleton of this cosmic skull is composed of large, dense pockets of purple, orange, green, and blue gases strewn over a bed of dust.” “Bright blue stars in the eye holes of the skull stand out against the blackness of space,” it added.
The region in the bottom right of the image, where the bone structure’s slurry of gas and dust is noticeably heavier, has a thick cloud that obscures the view of freshly emerging stars.
The image’s highest corners show a background of pitch-black space with stars scattered all over it.
Thanks to Chandra data, many young star clusters, as well as additional, fainter clusters, may be observed in the image’s centre and on either side.
Due to their intense radiation and winds, these extremely hot stars, also known as O-stars, have removed layers of dust and gas, exposing a void filled with cooler particles.
The two most prominent stars in this image are not in the nebula itself but can be seen in the bubble-like cavity along with some of Rosette’s O-stars.
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