Hubble has captured a colorful star-forming region, classified as IRAS 16562-3959, located in the Scorpius constellation 5,900 light-years from Earth within the Milky Way. It was compiled using data from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC 3), which has four separate filters that reveal its detailed nuances.
Upon closer inspection, you’ll see not just a nebula with stars, but at the center of the image, from top-left to bottom-right, a bright glow shows where new stars are being formed, partially covered by dark dust. There are also colored layers of gas and dust billowing out across the rest of the image, while the nebula is speckled with foreground stars boasting large diffraction spikes.
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At the center of the image, IRAS 16562-3959 is thought to host a massive star — about 30 times the mass of our Sun — that is still in the process of forming. At the near-infrared wavelengths to which Hubble is sensitive, the central region appears dark because there is so much obscuring dust in the way,” said the European Space Agency.
