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NASA scientists presented a new image to the public as a part of their ‘Nebula November’ event, except this time it is a dark nebula called LDN 1165. It’s been described as being a ‘hole in the sky’. The nebula they’ve highlighted is in the constellation Cepheus and is cataloged as a “dark nebula” also known as an absorption nebula, so named because they neither reflect nor emit their own light like other nebulae but rather block any light coming from behind them (relative to Earth’s location). The space agency explained further that these dark nebulae in particular contain high amounts of dust which prevent light from penetrating them from the other side.
According to a release from NASA,
“Dark nebulae are so dark that they’ve been referred to as “holes in the sky,” but in reality they may be full of activity, with stars sometimes forming inside their dense clouds.
Hubble observed this region as part of a study of protostars, hot dense cores of newly forming stars that are accumulating gas and dust as they undergo the starbirth process. The bright area in this image is likely a star-forming region that may hold one or more young protostars. Further study of dark nebulae like LDN 1165 will help us better understand the nature of these dark and dusty clouds and the stellar nurseries that may lurk within them.”
Admittedly the social media team handing NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope account is on point here… they wrote “Come to the dark side. Dark nebulae (or absorption nebulae) are clouds of gas and dust in space that block light coming from behind them”
Come to the dark side.
Dark nebulae (or absorption nebulae) are clouds of gas and dust in space that block light coming from behind them, as seen in this newly released Hubble image of LDN 1165: https://t.co/5gs27awStx#NebulaNovember pic.twitter.com/9Gfwy5c5Fv
— Hubble (@NASAHubble) November 15, 2021
Stellar Nurseries: Light Born From A Dark Hole In The Sky
It is amazing to think that in one of the darkest objects of the night sky, where light cannot break through, new stars are forming every day and blasting their first visible light into the universe only to be swallowed by the nebula that birthed them, to be unseen by us until the dust cloud dissipates or is itself consumed billions of years from now by the process of newly forming stars.
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