‘Witch head’ brews baby stars
A witch appears to be screaming out into
space in this image from NASA’s Wide-Field
Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. The infrared
portrait shows the Witch Head nebula, named
after its resemblance to the profile of a wicked
witch. Astronomers say the billowy clouds of the
nebula, where baby stars are brewing, are being lit up by massive stars. Dust in the cloud is
being hit with starlight, causing it to glow with
infrared light, which was picked up by WISE’s
detectors.
The Witch Head nebula is estimated to be
hundreds of light-years away in the Orion constellation, just off the famous hunter’s knee.
WISE was recently “awakened” to hunt for
asteroids in a program called NEOWISE. The reactivation came after the spacecraft was put
into hibernation in 2011, when it completed two
full scans of the sky, as planned.
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech