Hubble Telescope Captures Ghostly Star Formation in Chameleon Constellation

The Hubble Space Telescope has delivered yet another out-of-this-world picture, this time of a star forming in the Chameleon constellation.

The ethereal white clouds in the image are outflows of quickly moving gas that's colliding with slower surrounding gases, illuminating the region in Chameleon, which is more than 500 light years away from Earth.

Gases from the star in formation, officially recognized as HH 909A, are violently blasting from the object's core at speeds of hundreds of miles per second, which is what causes the illumination when it wrecks in to other gases away from the core.

As new stars are forming, they voraciously collect gas and dust, eventually gathering enough material to become massive enough to initiate nuclear fusion in their core and light up into stars.

The state of HH 909A, as observed by Hubble, is prior to the triggering of nuclear fusion. The wispy patches of white in the image are classified as Herbig-Haro objects, which will only be around for a matter of years, which, in astronomical terms, is like a blink of an eye.

To date, numerous Herbig-Haro objects have been found in the Chameleon constellation and the Orion constellation, another common star-forming region.

In addition to forming around new stars, Herbig-Haro objects can also be associated with less massive objects, such as brown dwarfs, NASA said in a statement along with the image.