* Image Acquisition: HST.

* Processing: Ruben Barbosa.

Astronomy and Poetry

The rain awakened him near midnight, bringing a celestial melody that ran all over his body, an announced incantation.

He opened his eyes, an angel, heavenly blue, intense, fascinated by the difference of what existed but could not be seen, a dream of an inner reflection, deliriously leading to his restlessness and a doubt: had they met?

Sheltered in a tree, the fresh air spread harmony, a rose scent with jasmine, generosity, pure feelings allowing the essential to life, an unforgettable memory.

In the background, city lights on winding roads flashed like stars in the sky, and ET secretly remembered it as one of the most memorable days of its existence.

It has been years and legend has it that this tree has never lost its leaves ... one wanting everything, a secret heart magic, extraterrestrial, dreaming of radio galaxies, universe, big bang, spectra and nebulae.

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Sharpless 2-106 (Sh2-106) is an emission nebula and an HII (stellar nursery) region in the Swan constellation, 2 light-years in length and 2,000 light-years away from Earth.

In a quick glance, Sh2 may seem like a planetary nebula because of its somewhat symmetrical appearance but in reality it is a giant molecular cloud where new stars are constantly being formed.

So why does this cloud have a great resemblance to a planetary nebula?

The answer lies in the very massive central star (with 15 solar masses), which emits hot gas jets (about 10,000 °) through the poles, sculpting the gas and giving rise to the bipolar structure we observe.

The surrounding gas is then ionized by the star giving rise to the blue structures, which show rippling as they interact with the gas present in the interstellar medium, because it is at lower temperatures.

This is an emission nebula in which the atoms of the molecular cloud are excited by the radiation of the star and when they decay to lower energy levels they emit the blue light that we see in the image.

On the other hand, the exterior of the object consists of a reflection nebula, characterized in this image by reddish tones that result from the collision of the light produced by the star with small particles of dust that do not end up being ionized.

As a rule, the emission nebulae are in reddish tones and those of reflection in bluish tones due to light scattering; however, in this image the colors appear changed because only two filters were used in the infrared band.