The space photo of the week is this gorgeous Hubble image of the angelic nebula S106. In the center of the nebula lies a young, but also very active star.

With a little imagination you can recognize an angel in this nebula. If you turn the photo a quarter turn, you might see an hourglass. The angel’s wings have a light blue glow. These wings consist of hot hydrogen gas, set in motion by the star IRS 4 (Infrared Source 4) at the center of the nebula. Around this star is a ring of dust and gas, which can best be compared to a belt. This tight belt pushes the expanding mist into an hourglass shape.

The photo was taken in 2011 by the Hubble Space Telescope. The nebula Sharpless 2-106 is located about 3,300 light-years from Earth in the constellation Swan. The nebula itself is several light years across.

Click on the photo to view a larger version (note: 10 MB).

More than 600 brown dwarf stars

Did you know that this nebula is home to over 600 brown dwarfs? Brown dwarfs are failed stars. Normal stars start to shine because the nuclear fusion process is started. Sometimes the ball of matter is not dense enough to start this process and a brown dwarf remains. A failed star glows in infrared light, but emits little ‘normal’ light. This makes brown dwarfs the coldest stars in the universe. In infrared light, there are 600 points of light in the nebula S106, but in visible light these dwarfs are invisible.

A timeless classic

This photo of S106 is one of Hubble’s best photos. This is mainly due to the many details that are visible. Hubble’s keen eyes show all kinds of ripples in the gas. A special spectacle.

Over the past decades, space telescopes and satellites have captured beautiful images of nebulae, galaxies, stellar nurseries and planets. Every weekend we remove one or more impressive space photos from the archive. Enjoy all the photos? View them on this page.