NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope recently captured a rare nebula in the Orion constellation. An image of a dense luminous cloud of gas and dust glow was shared by the US space agency. NASA identified the rare nebula as a Herbig-Haro object known as HH 45. Herbig-Haro, as described by the scientist, is a nebula that occurs when hot gas ejected by a newborn star collides with the gas and dust around it at hundreds of miles per second. This celestial event creates bright shock waves making a spectacular sight to behold. The image shared by NASA features a blue area which indicates ionized oxygen (O II) while the purple region of the shockwave shows ionized magnesium (Mg II).

According to NASA, the Herbig-Haro is located in the nebula NGC 1977, which itself is part of a complex of three nebulae called The Running Man, the space agency noted. NGC 1977 and its companions NGC 1975 and NGC 1973 are a reflection nebula. A reflection nebula, as explained by NASA, is the one that does not emit light on its own, but reflects light from neighbouring stars.

Images of the shockwave which took place at Running Man were shared by NASA on Instagram last week. The bluish purple haze dominates the majority of the frame while glares of turquoise and orange lining highlight the jet being emitted by the young star Parengo 2042, which is embedded in a disk of debris that could give rise to planets. NASA mentioned in a statement that the star powers a pulsing jet of plasma that stretches over two light years through space, bending to the north in the image.

NASA’s Hubble Telescope Captures Photos of Colliding Gases in ‘Running Man’ Nebula

An image of a dense luminous cloud of gas and dust glow was shared by the US space agency. NASA identified the rare nebula as a Herbig-Haro object known as HH 45.