Spitzer Digs Up Hidden Stars: Infrared Image of BHR 71
Sig07 005a

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Bourke (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA) & c2d Legacy Team

Observation • April 17th, 2007 • sig07-005a

sig07-005a

Two rambunctious young stars are destroying their natal dust cloud with powerful jets of radiation, revealed in an infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The stars are located approximately 600 light-years away in a cosmic cloud called BHR 71.

IIn infrared light, the baby stars are shown as the bright yellow smudges toward the center. Both of these yellow spots have wisps of green shooting out of them. The green wisps reveal the beginning of a jet. Like a rainbow, the jet begins as green, then transitions to orange, and red toward the end.

About the Object

Name
BHR 71
Type
Star > Evolutionary Stage > Protostar
Star > Evolutionary Stage > Young Stellar Object
Star > Circumstellar Material > Outflow
Nebula > Type > Star Formation
Nebula > Type > Jet
Nebula > Appearance > Dark > Molecular Cloud
Distance
600 Light Years

Color Mapping

Band Wavelength Telescope
Infrared 3.6 µm Spitzer IRAC
Infrared 4.5 µm Spitzer IRAC
Infrared 8.0 µm Spitzer IRAC