Above and Beyond: Thackeray’s Globules

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This video shows Thackeray's Globules -- dark, secretive clouds of dust and gas floating against the backdrop of a brightly lit star-forming nebula.  

Star Forming Nebulas
 
 
Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach.
 
All images, illustrations, and videos courtesy of NASA, ESA, and STScI except:
 
·       Image of reflection nebula NGC 1788 courtesy of T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF) & S. Pakzad (NOAO/AURA/NSF)
·       Taurus constellation drawing from Firmamentum Sobiescianum sive Uranographia by Johannes Hevelius, courtesy of the United States Naval Observatory
·       Orion constellation photo courtesy of Akira Fujii
·       Illustration of circumstellar disk and jets courtesy of ESO/L. Calçada/M. Kornmesser
·       Image of HH 34 jets courtesy of ESO
·       Star formation animation courtesy of Aimei Kutt (Brown University/STScI)
 
 
Written by Vanessa Thomas
Designed by John Godfrey

(SPEECH) 
[DOWNBEAT MUSIC] 
 
(DESCRIPTION) 
Red space dust and yellow stars, with cloudy black areas throughout. 
 
Text, THACKERAY'S GLOBULES. HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE. Dark, secretive clouds of dust and gas float against the backdrop of a brightly lit star-forming nebula. 
 
Similar clouds, when observed by astronomers, are frequently found to hide embryonic stars within their murky shrouds of dust and gas. 
 
These clouds, however, show signs of disruption — likely a side effect of residing near hot, massive stars that have already burst to life. 
 
Such duress may prevent these dark clouds from ever producing stars of their own.