Astronomers using the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on Gemini South telescope have imaged the Chamaeleon Infrared Nebula, which is located near the center of the Chamaeleon I dark cloud, one of the nearest star-forming regions in our Milky Way Galaxy.
This image shows the Chamaeleon Infrared Nebula, which is located near the center of the even larger Chamaeleon I dark cloud. Image credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / T.A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage & NSF’s NOIRLab / J. Miller, Gemini Observatory & NSF’s NOIRLab / M. Zamani, NSF’s NOIRLab / D. de Martin, NSF’s NOIRLab.
The Chamaeleon Infrared Nebula is so named because it is bright at some infrared wavelengths of light.
Also known as Cha IRN, GN 11.07.3 and IRAS 11072-7727, the nebula is located 457 light-years away in the constellation of Chamaeleon.
“Hidden at the core of this reflection nebula, and at the center of this image, is the engine of the nebula, a low-mass star — less massive than our Sun — that is eclipsed by a dark vertical band,” the astronomers said.
“Even though it is concealed from view, this young, cool star emits streams of fast-moving gas that have carved a tunnel through the interstellar cloud from which the young star formed.”
“Infrared and visible light emitted by the star escapes along this tunnel and scatters off its walls, giving rise to the wispy reflection nebula.”
The bright red object to the right of the image center is known as a Herbig-Haro (HH) object and has the designation HH 909A.
It marks where some of the fast-moving stream of gas lights up after colliding with slower-moving gas in the Chamaeleon Infrared Nebula.
Other Herbig-Haro objects have been found along the axis of the star’s outflow beyond the edges of the image to the right and left.
“Astronomers think that the dark band at the center of the Chamaeleon Infrared Nebula is a circumstellar disk a reservoir of gas and dust orbiting the star,” the researchers said.
“Circumstellar disks are typically associated with young stars and provide the materials needed to build planets.”
“The reason the disk appears as a band rather than a circle in this image is because it is edge-on, only revealing one edge to observers here on Earth.”
According to the scientists, the nebula’s central star is a young stellar object embedded within the disk.
“The background nebulosity, appearing in blue in this image, is reflecting light from a nearby star located outside the frame,” they said.
