December 16, 2011

A forming star in the Sharpless 2-106 nebula (Image NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA))

In February 2011 the Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 captured the extraordinary show of a star that is still forming illuminating the surrounding cloud of hydrogen and now NASA and ESA have published some stunning images of it. This star is part of a nebula known as Sharpless 2-106 (Sh2-106, or abbreviated as S106) because it’s one of those cataloged by astronomer Stewart Sharpless in the ’50s.