(ORDO NEWS) — Sometimes the universe provides just the perfect way to express our feelings.
A cosmic cloud 7,500 light years away has given us the most fitting goodbye we can think of for 2020.
This small lump of matter is part of a much larger cloud complex called the Carina Nebula, and would not have received its own name under normal circumstances. But its distinctive shape has led scientists to give it the nickname “Defiant Finger.”
And this is exactly what it sounds like – the age-old obscene gesture of “go, do terrible things to yourself” and “go away, but in much harsher words.”
In fact, the Defiant Finger is what is known as Boca’s Globule. These are small, dark, dense clumps of dust and gas that are often the birthplace of stars. As the cloud regions further condense, they can collapse under the influence of their own gravity, and begin to turn into a star.
Since young stars are usually bright and hot, they strike their surroundings with radiation. The outer part of the Defiant Finger globule is probably illuminated and ionized by either the Wolf-Rayet star WR 25, a very massive star at the end of its life cycle; or Tr16-244, a hot young supergiant.
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