NASA announced the discovery of the Jack-o’-lantern Nebula with a spooky image on Halloween’s day a few years back. The American Space Agency revealed that this is one of the rarest kinds of nebulae it has ever discovered in space. Jack-o’-lantern Nebula is a cloud of gas and dust created by a massive O-type star.
NASA revealed that the nebula’s massive outflow of radiation and particles often pushed the surrounding dust and gas further away, thereby creating the pumpkin-shaped spooky view.
The cosmic event within this region leaves the massive nebula to glow like a candle in the middle of a jack-o’-lantern. This occurrence inspired the scientists who conducted the study to name the object jack-o’-lantern Nebula.
How NASA made the fascinating discovery of the Jack-o’-lantern Nebula
Jack-o’-lantern Nebula was discovered using the Spitzer telescope. This powerful space telescope detects infrared light that is invisible to the human eye. After NASA scientists obtained the image from the telescope’s data, they added the image to highlight different wavelengths of light emerging from the outside of the visible spectrum.
NASA reveals that the researchers studied the region in the outer galactic space outside the Milky Way Galaxy. NASA also said that the carved-out cloud of gas and dust is nicknamed the “Jack-o’-lantern Nebula” as it resembles a cosmic hallowed-out pumpkin. The Nebula possesses powerful outflows of radiations and particles from a huge star named an O-type star.
This massive star is roughly 15 to 20 times heavier than the Sun. Hence, the study reveals that it may have swept the surrounding dust and gas outward to create deep gouges in the cloud.
The original image of the nebular shows that it features three wavelengths of infrared light. The Green and red colors represent wavelengths discharged basically by dust radiating at different temperatures. In addition, the combination of green and red colors in the image produces yellow hues.
Blue represents the emitted wavelength in the image. This emission occurred mostly by stars and some scorching areas of the nebula. The white regions show where the objects are bright enough in all three colors.
NASA revealed that the O-type star appeared as a white region at the center of the red dust shell close to the middle of the scooped-out region. The team published the study in the Astrophysical Journal.
Conclusion
NASA discovered the Jack-o’-lantern Nebula as one of the rarest spooky nebulae that exist outside the Milky Way Galaxy. Hence, this image is evidence that there are several unknown spooky objects in the deep space. What do you think about this unique nebula? In addition, check out these two best Halloween space-themed costumes from Amazon.
