Journey to Dark Nebula LDN 483 in Serpens (The Serpent)
Where did all the stars go? This dark cloud obscures hundreds of background stars. The Wide Field Imager (WFI) on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile snapped this image of the dark nebula LDN 483. The object is a region of space clogged with gas and dust. These materials are dense enough to effectively eclipse the light of background stars. LDN 483 is located about 700 light-years away in the constellation of Serpens (The Serpent).
Particularly dense molecular clouds, like LDN 483, qualify as dark nebulae because of this obscuring property. The starless nature of LDN 483 and its ilk would suggest that they are sites where stars cannot take root and grow. However, the opposite is true. Dark nebulae offer the most fertile environments for eventual star formation.
Astronomers studying star formation in LDN 483 have discovered examples of the youngest observable kinds of baby stars buried in LDN 483’s shrouded interior. These gestating stars can be thought of as still being in the womb, having not yet been born as complete, albeit immature, stars.
In this first stage of stellar development, the star-to-be is just a ball of gas and dust contracting under the force of gravity within the surrounding molecular cloud. The protostar is still quite cool—about –250 degrees Celsius—and shines only in long-wavelength submillimeter light. Yet temperature and pressure are beginning to increase in the fledgling star’s core.
This earliest period of star growth lasts a mere thousands of years, an astonishingly short amount of time in astronomical terms, given that stars typically live for millions or billions of years. In the following stages, over the course of several million years, the protostar will grow warmer and denser. Its emission will increase in energy along the way, graduating from mainly cold, far-infrared light to near-infrared and finally to visible light. The once-dim protostar will have then become a fully luminous star.
As more and more stars emerge from the inky depths of LDN 483, the dark nebula will disperse further and lose its opacity. The missing background stars that are currently hidden will then come into view—but only after the passage of millions of years, and they will be outshone by the bright young-born stars in the cloud.
Lynds' Catalogue of Dark Nebulae (abbreviation: LDN) is an astronomical catalogue of dark nebulae. Objects listed in the catalog are numbered with the prefix LDN. Beverly Turner Lynds (August 19, 1929 – October 5, 2024) was best known for compiling two astronomical catalogues in the 1960s, Lynds' Catalogue of Bright Nebulae and Lynds' Catalogue of Dark Nebulae. We honor her many lasting contributions to astronomical science.
Learn about the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope:
Credit: European Southern Observatory
Duration: 50 seconds
Release Date: Jan. 7, 2015
Release Date: Jan. 7, 2015
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