This image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows infant stars
"hatching" in the head of the hunter constellation, Orion. Astronomers
suspect that shockwaves from a supernova explosion in Orion's head, nearly
three million years ago, may have initiated this newfound birth
The region featured in this Spitzer image is called Barnard 30. It is
located approximately 1,300 light-years away and sits on the right side of
Orion's "head," just north of the massive star Lambda Orionis.
Wisps of green in the cloud are organic molecules called polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons. These molecules are formed anytime carbon-based
materials are burned incompletely. On Earth, they can be found in the
sooty exhaust from automobile and airplane engines. They also coat the
grills where charcoal-broiled meats are cooked.
Tints of orange-red in the cloud are dust particles warmed by the newly
forming stars. The reddish-pink dots at the top of the cloud are very
young stars embedded in a cocoon of cosmic gas and dust. Blue spots
throughout the image are background Milky Way along this line of sight.
This composite includes data from Spitzer's infrared array camera
instrument, and multiband imaging photometer instrument. Light at 4.5
microns is shown as blue, 8.0 microns is green, and 24 microns is red.
