Cosmic shadow of HBC 672
This image, taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the Serpens Nebula, a stellar nursery about 1300 light-years away. Within the nebula, in the upper right of the image, a shadow is created by the protoplanetary disc surrounding the star HBC 672. While the disc of debris is too tiny to be seen even by Hubble, its shadow is projected upon the cloud in which it was born. In this view, the feature — nicknamed the Bat Shadow — spans approximately 200 times the diameter of our own Solar System.
A similar looking shadow phenomenon can be seen emanating from another young star, in the upper left of the image.
Credit:About the Image
Id: | heic1819a |
Type: | Observation |
Release date: | 31 October 2018, 18:00 |
Related releases: | heic1819 |
Size: | 4398 x 3982 px |
About the Object
Name: | HBC 672, Serpens nebula |
Type: | Milky Way : Star : Circumstellar Material : Disk : Protoplanetary Milky Way : Nebula : Appearance : Reflection |
Distance: | 1300 light years |
Constellation: | Serpens Cauda |
Category: | Nebulae |
Image Formats
Large JPEG
2.6 MB
Publication TIFF 4K
15.2 MB
Publication JPEG
2.2 MB
Screensize JPEG
187.6 KB
Wallpapers
1024x768
177.8 KB
1280x1024
276.5 KB
1600x1200
396.4 KB
1920x1200
468.1 KB
2048x1536
624.4 KB
Coordinates
Position (RA): | 18 29 58.85 |
Position (Dec): | 1° 14' 28.60" |
Field of view: | 2.20 x 1.99 arcminutes |
Orientation: | North is 12.0° left of vertical |
Colours & filters
Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
---|---|---|
Infrared J | 1.25 μm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3 |
Infrared H | 1.64 μm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3 |