Image of the Day: 29/7/14

(Photo Credit: ESA/Herschel/PACS/HerM33es Key Programme/C. Kramer/M. Boquien)

This is the nearby M33 galaxy, also known as the Triangulum Galaxy, pictured blossoming with star birth.

Image of the Day: 23/6/14

(Photo Credit: ESA/Herschel/PACS/SPIRE/HOBYS)

The European Space Agency’s Herschel space observatory captured this amazing image showing a sequence of star-forming regions in the molecular cloud W48, which is 10,000 light-years away from Earth in the Aquila constellation.

Image of the Day: 30/05/14

(Photo Credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble Telescope)

This beautiful Hubble image shows IRAS 14568-6304, a young star cloaked in a golden haze.

The star has a ‘tail’ made up of leftover gas and dust that was taken from the star’s parent cloud during its formation. While most of this cosmic material is used during the creation of the star, the star also ejected some of the material through space at supersonic speeds .

This phenomenon is witnessed here, and not only beautiful, but it can provide scientists with valuable clues about the process of star formation.