IRS-8 Bow-Shock
Credit: Gemini Observatory, National Science Foundation and the University of Hawaii Adaptive Optics Group
The object, known by the unglamorous name of IRS8, was only an ill-defined smudge until Gemini came along. Now, the Gemini telescope's advanced optics show that IRS8 appears to be a star that is plowing through a poorly understood gas and dust cloud near the galactic center. Moving relative to the cloud, the star creates a very obvious bow-shock wave, similar to the wave that forms in front of a boat as it goes through water.
See Image Release for details
Gemini Observatory Image/Video Usage Policy
|
|
