Hubble telescope captures pic of Prawn Nebula, a massive stellar nursery

Nebulas are places in space where stars form. Nebulas are made up of interstellar gas and dust. They are formed when old stars explode. Amd in turn, new stars are formed from the stellar material deposited in the nebula.

NASA's Hubble space telescope has captured image of Prawn Nebula, a massive stellar nursery. The nebula is 250 might-years wide and is situated at a distance of 6000 light-years away from Earth. Formally, the Prawn Nebula is called IC 4628.

The nebula has been classified as emission nebula. This is because the gas in the nebula is being ionised by stars forming inside it. This forms electrons that re-emit the absorbed energy in the form of infrared light. Human eye cannot see infrared light. And thus good-ol Hubble comes into play.

Hubble's unique vantage point in space gives it a unique advantage when it comes to clicking pictures of celestial bodies. Needless to say, its vast array of cameras and lenses makes it capable of perceiving light not ordinarily visible to human eye.

This image has been taken by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3. The image was clicked as part of an initiative to survey large and intermediate-size stars which are in early stage of their development.