At times, the Universe provides the right way to express our emotions.
A 7,500-light-year-old space cloud has given us a farewell that we can only imagine for this full year, 2020 dumpster fire.
This small lump of material is part of a much larger cloud building called Carina Nebula, and under normal circumstances would not give it a nickname. But its unique shape has led scientists to nickname it the Defiant Finger.
And that’s exactly what it looks like – the age-old obscene movement “doing terrible things to you”, and “going away, but in much worse words”.
(NASA, ESA, N. Smith / UC Berkeley, and Hubble / STScI / AURA Heritage Team)
In fact, the Defiant Finger is what is known as a Bok Globule. These are small, dark, dense knots of dust and gas that are often the birthplaces of stars. As denser regions of the cloud become more dense, they can collapse under their own weight, and begin to spin to a star.
Stars may form inside the Defiant Finger, which contains 6 sunscreens,; because it is so dense, it is difficult to see inside. The apparent glue comes from outside sources – bright starlight nearby.
(NASA, ESA, N. Smith / UC Berkeley, and Hubble / STScI / AURA Heritage Team)
Since young stars are usually bright and hot, they explode their surroundings with radiation. The exterior of the Defiant Finger globule appears to be lit and infused by either the Wolf-Rayet star WR 25, a short-lived big star at the end of his life; Tr16-244, hot young supergiant; or a combination of both.
But while they illuminate, these stars also destroy: slowly but surely, they evolve the Defiant Finger. At the current estimated level of massive loss, the dust cloud of just 200,000 to 1 million years is expected.
That is not very long in cosmic terms, not very long at all. But it is long enough to make a poetic statement: a scream into the gap, a defiant movement against inevitable. And a very appropriate way to close the door on 2020.
Thanks, place. And carry forward 2021.