Astronomy Picture of the Day

Hot Stars in the Rosette Nebula


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Hot Stars in the Rosette Nebula


Explanation:

Winds and radiation from massive hot stars in
the Rosette Nebula
have cleared the natal
gas and dust from the center of the
nearby star-forming region.

They also pose a danger to
planet forming disks around
young, cooler stars in the neighborhood.

This Spitzer Space Telescope
infrared image
of dust clouds
near the Rosette's central region,
shows the cleared-out cavity.

The view spans about 45 light-years at the
the nebula's estimated distance of 5,200 light-years.

Putting your cursor over the false color picture will highlight the
dangerous hot stars,
classified as O stars
with surface temperatures of 25,000
kelvins or higher.

Astronomers calculate
that cool stars wandering
within about 1.6 light-years of the Rosette's O stars are in danger
of having their planet forming
disks destroyed.




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