Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Hubble Finds a "Cosmic Caterpillar"


The celestial critter in the new Hubble telescope photo is actually a cloud of gas stretching one light-year (10 trillion kilometers) across, scientists said. This cloud is in the process of collapsing under its own gravity to give birth to a star — but it's a race against time, because the established bright stars in it's vicinity are fighting this process.