Gorgeous Hubble image of a star-forming complex emerges as image of the week
N159 is an H II region located about 160,000 light-years away in the constellation Dorado. An H II region is a cloud of hydrogen gas that has been ionized by very hot, young, massive stars.
The young stars emit powerful ultraviolet radiation that strips electrons off hydrogen atoms — what is called ionization. Electrons and protons in hydrogen atoms recombine, eventually leading to the release of light, especially H-alpha light. H-alpha light is a red light and is responsible for the characteristic red appearance of star-forming regions like N159.
N159 is one of the most massive star-forming clouds in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The Large Magellanic Cloud is a dwarf galaxy orbiting our Milky Way. This image shows just a portion of N159. The entire region actually stretches over 150 light-years — nearly 10 million times the distance between the Earth and the Sun.
A Hubble image of the full N159 star-forming cloud was previously released in 2016. However, that image did not highlight the hot gas that hosts star formation. In this image, that aspect is taken care of. The left and center of the image are filled with bright red clouds. On the right side, glittering stars are more visible as gas is mostly not present there.
N159 has been described as a “turbulent cauldron of star birth.” Hubble’s ability to create images like this makes it possible to appreciate the intense star-forming activities in N159 better.
