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.
An international team of astronomers has been able to study stellar evolution in real time. Over a period of 30 years, dramatic increases in the temperature of the star SAO 244567 have been observed. Now the star is cooling again, having been reborn into an earlier phase of stellar evolution.
Records are made to be broken, as the expression goes, but rarely are records left so thoroughly in the dust. Stunned astronomers have witnessed a cosmic explosion about 200 times more powerful than a typical supernova — events which already rank amongst the mightiest outbursts in the universe — and more than twice as luminous as the previous record-holding supernova.
