Wide-field view: Star-forming Region Gum 19 in Vela | Digitized Sky Survey 2

Wide-field view: Star-forming Region Gum 19 in Vela | Digitized Sky Survey 2

This image shows the area around the star-forming region Gum 19 (also known as RCW 34), in the direction of the constellation of Vela (The Sails), as seen by the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The image covers an area of 3 by 3 degrees on the sky. Gum 19 is approximately 22,000 light years from Earth. 

The furnace that fuels Gum 19’s luminosity is a gigantic, superhot star called V391 Velorum. Shining brightest in the scorching blue range of visible light—V391 Velorum boasts a surface temperature in the vicinity of 30,000 degrees Celsius. Within the neighborhood of this fitful supergiant, new stars nonetheless continue to grow. In several million years—a blink of an eye in cosmic time—they will eventually reach the high density at their centers necessary to ignite nuclear fusion. The fresh outpouring of energy and stellar winds from these newborn stars will also modify the gaseous landscape of Gum 19.

The Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) is a ground-based imaging survey of the entire sky in several colors of light produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute through its Guide Star Survey group.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/Digitized Sky Survey 2
Release Date: March 31, 2010

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