Journey Inside A Bok Globule

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You asked for more? You got it. This time our dimensional visualization is going to take us 9500 light years away from where you’re sitting now and deep into the Perseus spiral arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. Buckle your seat belt and relax your eyes, because we’re heading into two versions of a 132 light year expanse known as NGC 281 and the central core called IC 1590…

Just like last time, this dual image requires a little bit of a challenge on your part to create a 3D effect. Thanks to the wizardry of Jukka Metsavainio, we’ve gone even one better. There’s two! The first version you see on this page are for those of you who have success relaxing your eyes and being a certain distance from the screen to get the images to merge. The one below is for those of you who have better luck crossing your eyes and catching dimension in the center image. Are you ready for your journey? Then have a look and let’s learn…

NGC281/IC1590 Hubble Heritage Cross Vision - Jukka Metsavainio
NGC281/IC1590 Hubble Heritage Cross Vision - Jukka Metsavainio

The whole gigantic region of nebulosity is known as NGC 281 and most commonly referred to as the “Pac Man Nebula”. Visible to small telescopes and located in the constellation of Cassiopeia (RA 00:42:59.35 Dec +56:37.18.8), this cloud of high density hydrogen gas is being ionized by an incredible output of ultraviolet radiation from the hot, neophyte stars which coalesced there. Deep in the center of this HII region is a open area called IC 1590 – home to a young galactic star cluster – and several dark patches known as “Bok Globules”.

If that sounds like something you might expel when you have a cold, you’re right. They are cold… Cold pockets of dense dust, molecular hydrogen and gas. Bok globules are the brain child of astronomer Dr. Bart Jan Bok – who, among other things, loved to study the paranormal. When Bok proposed their existence in the 1940’s, he knew what was going on. These dark regions were acting like interstellar cocoons – protecting their inner stars from being stripped by the radioactive stellar winds of nearby companions and blocking visible light. When stellar metamorphosis had occurred, the new star then begins to send out its own winds and radiation to evaporate the globule – but this isn’t always the case. Sometimes the cocoon gets destroyed before the life inside ignites.

In our image you will see bright blue stars, members of the young open cluster IC 1590, near the globules. Meanwhile, the cluster’s partially revealed core in the upper right hand corner is filled with a tight grouping of extremely hot, massive stars emitting visible and ultraviolet light, causing those incredible pink clouds. When these star forming dust clouds were first imaged by Hubble, we thought we knew a lot about them. But what have we learned since?

According to research done by T.H. Henning (et al): “The exciting star HD 5005 of the optical nebulosity is a Trapezium system… and emission shows that the molecular cloud NGC 281 A consists of two cloud fragments. The western fragment is more compact and massive than the eastern fragment and contains an NH3 core. This core is associated with the IRAS source 00494+5617, an H2O maser, and 1.3 millimeter dust continuum radiation. Both cloud fragments contain altogether 22 IRAS point sources which mostly share the properties of young stellar objects. The maxima of the 60 and 100 micrometers HIRES maps correspond to the maxima of the (12)CO (3 to 2) emission. The NGC 281 A region shares many properties with the Orion Trapezium-BN/KL region the main differences being a larger separation between the cluster centroid and the new site of star formation as well as a lower mass and luminosity of the molecular cloud and the infrared cluster.”

Great! It’s confirmed! It’s a star forming region, very much like what we can observe when we see M42. But, maybe… Maybe there’s just a little bit more to it than that? Hubble observations shows the jagged structure of the dust clouds as if they are being stripped apart from the outside. What could have caused that? Only the radiation from the nearby stars? Hmmm…. Not everyone seems to think so.

A 2007 study done by Mayumi Sato (et al) states: “Our new results provide the most direct evidence that the gas in the NGC 281 region was blown out from the Galactic plane, most likely in a superbubble driven by multiple or sequential supernova explosions in the Galactic plane.” Supernova? Yeah, you bet. And someone else thinks so, too…

Says S.T. Megeath (et al): “We suggest that the ring has formed in a superbubble blowout driven by OB stars in the plane of the Galaxy. Within the cloud complex, combined optical, NIR, mm and cm data detailing the interaction of a young O star with neighboring molecular cores, provide evidence of triggered star formation inside the cloud complex on a few parsec scale. These data suggest that two modes of triggered star formation are operating in the NGC 281 complex – the initial supernovae triggered formation of the entire complex and, after the first generation of O stars formed, the subsequent triggering of star formation by photoevaporation-driven molecular core compression.”

You’ve got it. This type of research suggests the cores were created within the molecular cloud. When they were exposed to direct UV radiation, the low density gas was stripped. This increase in pressure then caused a rippling shockwave which triggered star formation – first in the compressed regions and then in the HII areas. Says Megeath, “The total kinetic energy of the ring requires the energy of multiple supernovae. Both the high Galactic latitude and large expansion velocity may be explained if the NGC 281 complex originated in the blowout of an expanding superbubble. The loop of HI seen extending from the Galactic plane may trace the edge of a superbubble powered by supernovae near the Galactic plane. The expansion of a superbubble into the increasingly rarefied Galactic atmosphere can lead to a runaway expansion of the shell and the blowout of the bubble into the Galactic atmosphere. NGC 281 could have formed in the gas swept up and compressed in a blowout. Hence, NGC 281 maybe an example of the supernovae-driven formation of molecular clouds (and consequently, supernovae-triggered star formation).”

What incredible region! Hope you enjoyed your journey… And be sure to tip your hat to Bart Jan Bok who told the IAU (when they named Asteroid Bok for him in 1983) “Thanks for a little plot of land that I can retire to and live on.”

Our many, many thanks to Jukka Metsavainio of Northern Galactic for creating this unique image for Universe Today Readers! We look forward to more…

25 Replies to “Journey Inside A Bok Globule”

  1. ayti? do the second image and cross your eyes. i just had eye surgery and it works really easy for me. when you cross your eyes the third will appear in the center and only let your mind focus on the center image.

  2. I’m disappointed to see these posts, because there is no real stereo photography going on here. As I understand, the photo is being modified in photoshop by an artist to produce the 3-D effect, and that artist is simply using artistic license to guess at the distances to each of the features in the image.

    I wouldn’t mind if the posts clearly stated that this is an artist’s conception of what the 3-D arrangement of objects might be like, but instead this is being presented as real scientific data — which it isn’t. It’s art based on astrophotography, nothing more.

  3. gee… i’m sorry you feel that way, brian. i thought i made it clear in the caption that it was a concept – but i guess not. one of our readers asked for a hubble image and jukka bent over backwards to comply. his speciality is taking his own stereo images and i feel badly we’ve received negative feedback over something i’ve requested he try.

    personally, i like Bjørn’s opinion. the image was put there to make you “see”… and the scientific data is very real. while i appreciate beautiful pictures, i appreciate them far more if i understand what it is i’m looking at.

    i hope others aren’t offended by what i thought was an incredible rendition of a hubble image and my own attempt to explain the science behind it.

  4. WOW!! really really cool! After looking at it for a couple minutes it does feel like im doing irreversible damage to my eyes lol worth it tho!

  5. Thanks for the cross-eyed images, that is much easier for me to do.

    Though it does bring back distant memories of my mom shouting that my eyes will get stuck if I kept crossing my eyes.

  6. Simply stunning. You’re a champ Jukka – if you keep ’em coming, we’ll keep on being floored by them.

    And Brian – I see your point, but I’d hardly call it ‘disappointing to see these posts’. The fact that the 3D effect isn’t based on scientific data is implied in the post, but possibly not noted explicitly.

    However, it will be highly unlikely in our lifetimes to see true stereo photography of such objects, even allowing for the unlikely possibility of a requisite major advance in the technology needed to do it. And determining the distance to individual regions of a Bok globule using indirect methods seems like it’d be a long way off too.

    I say relax and appreciate the beauty of the images and skill gone into creating them. For me at least, a 3D representation has the ability to send my mind soaring far beyond what a mere 2D image could achieve. We humans love our depth perception after all…

  7. Tammy, some people will always find something to complain about, with complete disregard for the effort that has been put into making this wonderful article and image.

    Thanks, it truly is beautiful.

  8. The best way to watch those images is to use strong reading glasses… from a short distance, but the image can still be sharp and there is no strain on eyes.
    Then I adjust the zoom such that the distance between images corresponds to the distance between my eyes.. and.. Voila! 🙂

  9. What’s the difference between a Bok globule and Thackeray’s globules which Hubble found some years back?

  10. Another set of beautiful images. Much thanks to both Jukka and Tammy for both of your hard work. The cross stereo image was a wonderful addition! I’m still practicing on the parallel images and I’m detirmined to get it. I’ll definitely be looking forward to more of these wonderful articles and outstanding images. Way to go guys!!!

  11. Tammy,
    The Hubble images are far, far more than just science, the are, by their very nature, art. This time the 3-D was there in a flash much easier to do than the Rosette. To see the star cluster in depth was absolutly great. One thing though, in the first set the small square of stars was in the foreground of the globule, in the second set it was in the background. Is that just something that is the nature of the 3-D concept. Seeing the stars like that, like little sprinkles of brighness made me think of our own Sun and how it would look if we could see ourselves from a distance like that.

    Keep them coming. Remember, science and art are functions of one another.

  12. **Whine**
    Why do we have to keep listening to the moronpotomouses who insist on spreading their misery on everyone else?
    Because of people like them, I find myself going to museum after museum to complain about all the fictional landscape paintings which have been made over the years.

    Really, if you insist on everything being precise and absolute in your life without any personal expression what-so-ever, there are a lot of things in life you will never be able to enjoy.

    Keep these pictures coming. I may not use them in any research, but I do enjoy the artistic impression of the cosmos this method brings out.

  13. Wow cool effect although we can never know the exact distribution but it is fun to let your mind wander!
    @ prospero: Thackeray Globules weren’t discovered by Hubble, they were imaged by Hubble. It is mildly annoying when people think hubble discovered something when all it did was take a nice picture of it. Thackeray Globules are another name for Bok Globules, he discovered them in nebula IC 2944 in 1950. Bart Bok theorised them in 1947. And to see the entire Pacman Nebula check out this amazing pic by Rob Gendler: http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/NGC281NM.html

  14. I still can’t get it. My eyes are just too old.

    Those 3D pictures that were popular a few years ago were easy, but this…

  15. 1. btw Says:
    February 3rd, 2009 at 3:02 pm

    ” I still can’t get it. My eyes are just too old.

    Those 3D pictures that were popular a few years ago were easy, but this…”

    If you can stare at your finger 6 inches in front of your face, you can easily get this. Do the second ‘crossed eyes’ one. Now put your head about 30 or 40 cm from the screen. Stick a finger about 6 or so inches in front of your face so it appears just below the images in the background, and look at it. This will make you a bit cross eyed because you are looking at your finger so close to your face. Move your finger towards and away from the screen a bit and continue to watch it. As you do this, notice what happens to the images behind. There will be the two images – the left and right stereo ones. These will begin to overlap and cross over each other, and, at some point when your finger is at a certain distance, the images will cross over to a point where you have three perfect images – the left stereo, the right stereo, and sitting between them is the full stereo image. Note they have to be aligned almost perfectly.

    Now you have to shift your focus from your finger to the full stereo image behind without losing your cross eyed gaze, which would de-merge the image. With a bit of practice, the third image should all of a sudden ‘snap out’ at you, and it should almost be natural to hold that gaze.

    Hope this helps a bit!

  16. Try copying and pasting the image into a program like Microsoft Paint. Save it as a jpg image, and open it in a resizeable program like Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. The center to center distance between the images should be same as your eyeballs.

  17. Both images worked well for me, but they produce slightly different images. The first example looks the best, most realistic. The second one looks good in part, while other parts of the second one look visually confusing to a degree.

  18. Wow that’s amazing! How does this work- are the left and right images different? Is it simply an optical illusion or are the stars “really” in those orientations?

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