Champagne Flow

Hydrogen gets heated by the baby stars in this nebula, RCW 34, and when it reaches the edges of the gas cloud, “it bursts outwards into the vacuum like the contents of an uncorked champagne bottle,” so astronomers call it champagne flow, according to the European Southern Observatory, which published this image from the Very Large Telescope in Chile.

eso1521a.jpg

Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.