Hubble Telescope captures stunning image of star-forming Prawn Nebula

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured a beautiful view of the Prawn Nebula hovering in deep space.

The Prawn Nebula, officially known as IC 4628, is an emission nebula located 6,000 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Scorpius. Nebulae, or interstellar clouds of gas and dust, form after massive stellar explosions.

Stunning image of the Prawn Nebula.

Spanning more than 250 light-years, IC 4628 is thought to be a massive stellar nursery where new stars are forming. Scientists classify it as an emission nebula because its gas has been energized or ionized by the radiation of nearby stars. That process creates electrons that re-enter the absorbed energy as infrared light, according to a statement from NASA.

However, this kind of light cannot be detected by the human eye, making IC 4628 extremely faint to an observer from Earth. Given Hubble's vantage point in space and the scope of its camera, the telescope can get a close look at the nebula's structure, including bright regions of glowing gas and dazzling star formation.

In this recent Hubble image, which captures a small portion of the nebula's vast star-forming region, the red swirls of dust and gas reveal the presence of iron ion (Fe II) emission.

The image was recently taken with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 as part of a larger initiative to survey mid- and large-sized stars still in the early stages of development, also known as is money.

According to a NASA statement, astronomers used the infrared sensitivity of Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 to search for hydrogen ionized by the ultraviolet light of protostars, jets from stars and other features.