Hubble photographs deep space 'Running Man', shock waves detected

NASA and the European Space Agency's (ESA) Hubble Space Telescope has photographed "The Running Man" and shock waves of colliding gases.

NASA has taken to its blog to explain how the Hubble Space Telescope witnesses a shock wave of colliding gases in a nebula. Hubble snapped the above image of the Running Man Nebula, that's located 1,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Orion. This image is of a Herbig-Haro object known as HH 45, and according to NASA, "Herbig-Haro objects are a rarely seen type of nebula that occurs when hot gas ejected by a newborn star collides with the gas and dust around it at hundreds of miles per second, creating bright shock waves".

NASA continues to explain that the blue color seen throughout the image represents ionized oxygen (O II), and purple indicates ionized magnesium (Mg II). The nebula seen in the image is called NGC 1977 and is one of three that comprise The Running Man. NGC 1977 is a reflection nebula, which means it doesn't emit its own light and only reflects light from neighboring stars, much like a "streetlight illuminating fog", according to NASA. If you are interested in learning more about The Running Man, check out this link here.

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