The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has published a magnificent image of the structure, designated Sh 2-305, a cloud of hot hydrogen attacked by intense radiation from nearby stars.

The named object is an emission nebula – a zone of ionized gas emitting in the visible color range of the spectrum. Irradiation occurs due to several luminaries of spectral class O. Such stars can be tens of times larger in mass than our Sun, while possessing a million times higher brightness.

«Together with five more neighboring nebulae, Sh 2-305 belongs to the giant complex of dense gas-dust clouds, and on an even larger scale – to the colossal ring-shaped star-forming region, GS234-02“, – noted in the publication ESO.

Structure GS234-02 is located in the Perseus spiral arm of the Milky Way, in the constellation Stern. Below you can see a beautiful image in full resolution – click to enlarge.

We add that the image was taken as part of the ESO Cosmic Gems program – an educational initiative consisting in photographing interesting, mysterious or simply beautiful objects with ESO telescopes for educational and public awareness purposes.