Hubble Space Telescope spots a massive star-forming region in the Milky Way

Hubble has done it again! In times when James Webb Space Telescope appears to be hogging all the limelight, trusty ol' Hubble Space Telescope is quietly but consistently doing its work and sending us brilliant pics to marvel at. This time, it has clicked an image that shows a region in space 'teeming with' star-formation activity.

This region, known as IRAS 16562-3959 is not too far away and is within the Milky Way Galaxy. It is 5900 lightyears away from us and is located in the constellation Scorpius.

This image has been clicked by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3. The camera has been able to capture the colour, beauty and nuance of the celestial body by using four separate filters.

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At the centre of the image, there are signs that IRAS 16562-3959 possibly has a massive star. It is estimated that this star is about 30 times the mass of the Sun. The star is still in the process of forming. The clouds around this part of the image appear dark because of the presence of light-obscuring dust that blocks the near-infrared wavelengths of light that the Hubble was observing.

But we're in luck because the near-infrared light is leaking out from the upper left and lower right. Here, a powerful jet from the protostar (star in its nascent stage) blew the dust away.

"Multi-wavelength images like this incredible Hubble scene help us gain a better understanding of how the most massive, brightest stars in our galaxy form," says NASA on its website.

Hubble Space Telescope, though ageing, still packs a good punch. Over the past few decades, the Hubble Space Telescope has contributed to many significant and even groundbreaking discoveries. Observations made by Hubble have led to improved estimates of the rate of the universe's expansion. This has greatly helped our understanding of the cosmos.

(With inputs from agencies)