Inside the nebula NGC 1333, Hubble has captured an impressive image of a newly formed star that leaves a trail like a “smoke gun”.

The blue structures seen near the top center of the image are known as Herbig-Haro objects. These bright pieces of nebulous structure are spreading out into space, traveling away from the star that formed them at about 150,000 miles per hour (~241,000 km/h).

In a few tens of thousands of years, they completely dissipate and disappear. These structures are formed when jets of ionized gas emitted by a young star collide at high speed with surrounding clouds of gas and dust.

Image description:

A red nebula is pierced by orange stars on the right side of the image, and a large white star with diffraction spikes shines in the lower left. A cavity in the nebula is visible in the upper left with bright blue gas particles.

Image credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, K. Stapelfeldt