This video begins with a wide-field view of the sky, before zooming into the Taurus molecular cloud region, about 450 light-years from
Earth. Dark clouds of cosmic dust grains obscure the background stars at visible wavelengths. The submillimetre-wavelength observations from the LABOCA camera on APEX reveal the heat glow of the dust grains, shown here in orange tones. The observations cover two regions in the cloud, which are known as Barnard 211 and Barnard 213. In them, newborn stars are hidden, and dense clouds of gas are on the verge of collapsing to form yet more stars.
This video pans over part of the Taurus molecular cloud region.
The Taurus molecular cloud (TMC-1) is an interstellar
molecular cloud in the constellations
Taurus and
Auriga. This cloud hosts a
stellar nursery containing hundreds of newly formed stars.[2] The Taurus molecular cloud is only 140
pc (430
ly) away from Earth, making it possibly the nearest large
star formation region. It has been important in star formation studies at all wavelengths.[3]
It is notable for containing many complex molecules, such as
cyanopolyynes HCnN for n = 3,5,7,9,[4] and
cumulenecarbenesH2Cn for n = 3–6.[5]
The Taurus molecular cloud was identified in the past as a part of the
Gould Belt, a large structure surrounding the solar system. More recently (January 2020) the Taurus molecular cloud was identified as being part of the much larger
Radcliffe wave, a wave-shaped structure in the
local arm of the
Milky Way.
The newly formed stars in this cloud have an age of 1–2 million years.[6] The
Taurus–Auriga association, which is the
stellar association of the cloud, contains the variable star
T Tauri, which is the prototype of
T Tauri stars.[7] The many young stars and the close proximity to earth make it uniquely well-suited to search for
protoplanetary disks and
exoplanets around stars, and to identify
brown dwarfs in the association. Members of this region are suited for
direct imaging of young exoplanets, which glow brightly in
infrared wavelengths.
Members[7][8] of the Taurus–Auriga association with a circumstellar disk or exoplanet:
HL Tauri – directly imaged disk with impressive details