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This esthetic close up of cosmic clouds and stellar winds features LL Orionis , interacting with the Orion Nebula flow Adrift in Orions stellar nursery and still in its formative years , variable star LL Orionis produces a wind more energetic than the wind from our own middle aged Sun As the fast stellar wind runs into slow moving gas a shock front is formed , analogous to the bow wave of a boat moving through water or a plane traveling at supersonic speed The small , arcing , graceful structure just above and left of center is LL Oris cosmic bow shock , measuring about half a light year across The slower gas is flowing away from the Orion Nebulas hot central star cluster , the Trapezium , located off the upper left corner of the picture In three dimensions , LL Oris wrap around shock front is shaped like a bowl that appears brightest when viewed along the " bottom " edge The beautiful picture is part of a large mosaic view of the complex stellar nursery in Orion , filled with a myriad of fluid shapes associated with star formation ? |
