Hubble Telescope Celestial Snow Angel

"Snow Angel" 2000 Light Years Away

NASA is extending holiday greetings with the release of this image taken in February of this year which is a bipolar star-forming region.

The bipolar star-forming region is approximately 2,000 light years from Earth. Known as S106 for short, the bipolar star-forming region is several light-years in length and is located in a relatively confined region of the Milky Way galaxy. The nebula measures several light-years in length. It appears in a relatively isolated region of the Milky Way galaxy.

According to NASA, a young star known as IRS 4 (Infrared Source 4) is culpable for the “Snow Angel” image that is seen in the nebula. The wings of the image, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, are created by “twin lobes of super-hot gas” that disperse outward from the chief star. The “twin lobes of super-hot gas” are blue in the “Snow Angel” image. The area around the star is illuminated by the reflection of light, from the chief star, off of small dust particles.

The belt of the angelic image is created by a ring of dust and gas that circles the star. The belt also forces the growing nebular into an “hourglass” shape.

Perhaps this is one of the Biblical signs and wonders, which are signs that make us wonder? What amazes me, is that NASA can get such a fantastic picture, 2,000 light years away and I have trouble catching a bird in flight in my own backyard.