One of Hubble’s masterpieces is a photo of the NGC 1999 reflection nebula. This space photo has been reprocessed and here is the final result.

NGC 1999 is a so-called reflection nebula. This means that the gas and dust clouds themselves do not glow. Light from a nearby young star is scattered by the nebula’s dust, making the nebula visible. You can compare it to patches of fog around the bulb of a street lamp. The responsible star – V380 Orionis – is visible left of center. This star is 3.5 times more massive than the Sun and has a surface temperature of 10,000 degrees Celsius.

For a long time, astronomers thought the dark spot at the center of NGC 1999 was a spherical cloud, or a place where star formation takes place. In 2010, scientists came to the conclusion that it was not a spherical cloud, but a hole in space. After more than a decade, astronomers still don’t know exactly how this hole came about. An old fashioned mystery!

NGC 1999 is located 1,350 light-years from Earth and is part of the Orion Complex, a group of nebulae, star-forming regions, and star clusters in the constellation Orion. The most famous member of this family is the Orion Nebula. This nebula can be seen with the naked eye on a dark night as a misty patch. Also the famous Horsehead Nebula is part of the Orion complex.

Over the past few decades, space telescopes and satellites have captured beautiful images of nebulae, galaxies, stellar nurseries, and planets. Every weekend, we retrieve one or more impressive space photos from the archives. Enjoy all the photos? Check them on this page.