A striking astronomical image shows a sparkling cosmic formation nicknamed the “diamond ring”. This structure appears as a circle of light formed from gas and dust, with a bright blob resembling a jewel on one side.
With a diameter of about 20 light years, the formation is in the region of the star formation Cygnus
Unlike typical bubbles that form symmetrical spheres, these bubbles expand within flat molecular clouds, dense areas of gas and dust where stars are born, before eventually breaking apart and losing their symmetrical shape. Its estimated age is only 400,000 years, which is also very young by massive star standards.
Initially, the bright clumps that looked like “diamonds” in the ring were thought to be a collection of young stars. However, the researchers discovered that this object was not actually directly related to the ring. The group of stars is several hundred light years ahead of the ring and only appears aligned by chance when viewed from Earth.
This finding shows how much influence a star has on the cosmic environment around it.
“The ‘diamond ring’ is a prime example of how much influence a single star can have on an entire cloud complex,” said Nicola Schneider, one of the authors of the study published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. “Processes like this are important for understanding how stars form in the Milky Way galaxy.”
This image was taken by NASA’s flying observatory, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). The 2.7 meter diameter telescope mounted on a Boeing 747SP aircraft flies at an altitude of 45,000 feet (13,700 meters), above 99% of the Earth’s atmosphere.
These conditions allow SOFIA to capture infrared light that cannot be observed by ground-based telescopes. SOFIA first operated in 2010 and was discontinued in September 2022 due to budget constraints. However, its huge data archive continues to be analyzed by astronomers, including for this latest discovery.
The term “diamond ring” is actually also used in another astronomical phenomenon, namely during a total solar eclipse when a beam of sunlight penetrates the valley of the moon. Although unrelated, the two share dramatic visual similarities, despite very different mechanics. (Live Science/Z-2)
