RCW 34 (Gum 19) - H II region and the emission nebula located in the constellation Vela. It is located approximately 22,000 light years from

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

. Named after Australian astronomer

Colin Stanley Gum Colin Stanley Gum (4 June 1924 – 29 April 1960) was an Australian astronomer known for his cataloguing of emission nebulae and the publication of his findings. Early life and education Gum was born at Quambi Hospital in Adelaide, South Austr ...

. The nebula RCW 34 is relatively dark. However, when observed using

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

wavelengths, two different areas are visible - one half of the nebula is bright, the other is dark. The bright side is the hydrogen illuminated by a nearby

blue supergiant star A blue supergiant (BSG) is a hot, luminous star, often referred to as an OB supergiant. They have luminosity class I and spectral class B9 or earlier. Blue supergiants are found towards the top left of the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram, above an ...

, and dark is the place where new stars surround the central star on the other side. The source of energy that stimulates the nebula RCW 34 to shine is a huge, extremely hot star V391 Velorum with a surface temperature of up to 30,000 °C. Because it is a

variable star A variable star is a star whose brightness as seen from Earth (its apparent magnitude) changes with time. This variation may be caused by a change in emitted light or by something partly blocking the light, so variable stars are classified as ...

, it evokes violent phenomena, including discards of matter shells, affecting the composition and light emission of the RCW 34 nebula. Stars of the type V391 Velorum do not burn long enough to explode as

supernova A supernova is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. It has the plural form supernovae or supernovas, and is abbreviated SN or SNe. This transient astronomical event occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star or when ...

e. It can be expected that the explosion of the central star will completely change the RCW 34 nebula.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:RCW 34 Vela (constellation) Emission nebulae H II regions