14 DAY TRIAL // This apocalyptic view of a small region of the sky is generated by a single, young star, which is currently in the latest stages of formation. The intense stellar winds it generates are literally ripping its stellar nursery apart piece by piece.
The star, dubbed S106 IR, is located in the direction of the constellation Cygnus, the Swan, and is currently heating up the gas cocoon in which it formed to temperatures exceeding 10,000 degrees Celsius. The effects are clearly visible in the way the cloud reacts.
Gas and dust agglomerations around it are further perturbed by the huge amount of matter the object's winds are removing from the nursery. In addition, hot gas cannot be used to form new stars, which means that this particular nursery may be in its death throes on account of a single star.
The troublesome star is obscured from direct view by a thick lane of cooler gas, which appears red in this photo. Astronomers can now get only glimpses of S106 IR, through the thickest layers of the dust lane, ESA reports.