Sh2-106 is an emission nebula and a star formation region in the constellation Cygnus estimated to be around 2,000 light-years from Earth. A young, massive star in the centre of the nebula emits jets of hot gas from its poles, forming the bipolar structure. The nebula is about 2 light-years across. Image credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA).The bipolar star-forming region, called Sharpless 2-106, looks like a soaring, celestial snow angel in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The outstretched “wings” of the nebula record the contrasting imprint of heat and motion against the backdrop of a colder medium. Twin lobes of super-hot gas, glowing blue in this image, stretch outward from the central star. This hot gas creates the “wings” of our angel. A ring of dust and gas orbiting the star acts like a belt, cinching the expanding nebula into an “hourglass” shape.
Stunning views of M106, aka NGC 4258, show the nearby galaxy as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope combined with data provided by two amateur astronomers. An additional view from Hubble shows the galaxy’s subtle ultraviolet glow.
Several thousand years ago, a star some 160,000 light-years away from us exploded, scattering stellar shrapnel across the sky. The aftermath of this Type Ia supernova is shown here in this striking image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The exploding star was a white dwarf located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a close neighbouring galaxy.
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the simple beauty of NGC 339, a 6.5-billion-year-old massive intermediate age star cluster that lies in the SMC, a dwarf galaxy some 200,000 light-years away from us. The relationship between such clusters and true globular clusters is not yet fully understood.