The ever-expanding vastness of space holds countless mysteries just waiting to be unveiled by the prying hands of human curiosity. The best of the brilliant minds at NASA pour countless hours into unveiling just a smidge of the universe’ unknowable secrets. Their efforts bear sweet fruits however, which leave the minds of aspiring space enthusiasts dazzled by the beauty captured by their cutting edge telescopes. Such is evident by the discovery of a mesmerising ‘Snow Angel’, captured on NASA’s Hubble Telescope some 2,000 light years away from this tiny 'blue planet' that we call home.
Taken by NASA’s Hubble Telescope, the Sharpless 2-106 Nebula is nearly 2,000 light-years from Earth and it stretches several light-years across. This star-forming region looks like a celestial snow angel soaring through space. Twin lobes of hot gas create the “wings” that stretch outward from the central star against the backdrop of icy frost. A ring of dust acting as a belt is cinching the nebula into an “hourglass” shape.
At the center of the image, two bipolar light-blue lobes of hot gas can be seen. Dusky red veins surround the blue emission from the nebula. In the middle of the lobes surrounded with red dust is a young star known as IRS-4. The faint light emanating from the central star reflects off of tiny dust particles. Red dust and bright stars surround the nebula in the background of the darkness of space.