14 DAY TRIAL // Astronomers using the NASA Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) space telescope were recently able to snap an impressive photo of the Witch Head nebula (IC 2118), which showcases the huge amount of stellar formation that takes places in this structure. The nebula is estimated to lie several hundred light years from Earth, in the direction of the constellation Orion.
This stellar cloud resembles the profile of a wicked witch when seen from our position in space, hence its name. However, the nebula is an area of intense stellar formation. Huge clouds of molecular hydrogen implode under their own weight, giving birth to massive stars in the process. These stars are also the light sources that illuminate the stellar nursery from within, producing its beautiful glow.
WISE surveys the Universe in infrared wavelengths, so it was able to observe the irradiation patterns produces by intense, ultraviolet starlight on the hydrogen clouds in the nebula.
Though the telescope's original mission concluded a couple of years ago, data collected via a program extension called NEOWISE is still used to make relevant discoveries.