Last night's backyard photo of the Pelican Nebula and HH 555 at the top of a dust pillar star nursery. HH 555 is a Herbig-Haro object within the star-forming Pelican Nebula. Star form from a collapsing cloud of cold molecular hydrogen gas and dust. As the star grows, it gravitationally attracts more matter, creating a large spinning disk of gas and dust around it. The disk material gradually spirals onto the star and to conserve angular momentum it outflows material from the poles. These narrow jets of gas and matter, ejected by newly born stars at speeds of several hundred kilometers per second are called Herbig–Haro objects (HH) – named after astronomers George Herbig and Guillermo Haro who studied the outflows in the 1950s. They collide with nearby gas and dust in the interstellar medium, producing bright shock fronts that glow as the gas is heated by friction while the surrounding gas is excited by the high-energy radiation of nearby hot stars. #astrophotography #astronomy #cosmos #milkyway #photography #nightphotography #nightsky #stars #space #moon #longexposure #night #universe #diy #nasa #galaxy #sky #milkywaychasers #science #telescope #photooftheday #nebula #astrofotografia #passioneastrofotografia #astronomania #passioneastronomia #pictureoftheday #instagood
