NASA Discovers Westerhout 40

Written by: Olivia Giralt

Recently, NASA used the Spitzer Space Telescope to locate a nebula that serves as a nursery for hundreds of newborn stars. The nebula is named Westerhout 40 (W40) and is nicknamed "space butterfly" by NASA. The nebula is referred to as a butterfly due to its "wings", or bubbles of interstellar gas blown from massive and hot stars.

According to NASA, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are molecules consisting of hydrogen and carbon, become excited by interstellar radiation. This allows the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to emit light at approximately 8 microns, which provides the nebula with its red color.  

Westerhout 40 Source: NASA

Westerhout 40 also demonstrates the eradication of the clouds that form stars. Material is forced into dense clumps by gravity within clouds of dust and gas. Due to the density, the stars are able to form at their cores. When stars explode, their materials are emitted into space to combine with winds and radiation produced from massive stars within the clouds. This process distributes the dust and gas, which fractures the dense clumps, eventually preventing or slowing the formation of new stars.

Westerhout 40 is located at about 1400 light-years from the Orion nebula and the Sun. The Orion nebula and Westerhout 40 are two of the closest regions to earth that form stars. In fact, in the two regions, stars with masses 10 times the size of the sun have been observed.

The Spitzer Space Telescope has been utilized to identify another cluster of stars referred to as Serpens South. At some point in the future, stars embedded within the cloud of Serpens South will break loose and assemble bubbles similar to Westerhout 40. The Serpens South is believed to be younger than a few million years old.

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