\u201cTadpoles\u201d swim through the Orion Nebula, a giant stellar nursery more than 1300 light-years from Earth. Like tadpoles, they\u2019re not yet fully mature. Also like tadpoles, not all of them will survive their hostile environment.
\nThe tadpoles are known as protoplanetary disks \u2013 proplyds for short. They\u2019re giant \u201ccocoons\u201d of gas and dust. Each one envelops a central star that\u2019s still being born. And some of them may give birth to planets.
\nThe proplyds look like tadpoles because they\u2019re being sculpted by the radiation of nearby stars. The stars are exceptionally hot and bright. They produce a lot of ultraviolet radiation. The UV acts like a blowtorch, blasting the proplyds. The side of a proplyd that faces the stars is hot and bright, so it forms the \u201chead\u201d of the tadpole. The \u201ctail\u201d is formed by gas flowing away from it.
\nThe proplyds are quite young \u2013 no more than a couple of million years old. Their central stars are still taking shape. Many of them shoot out \u201cjets\u201d of hot gas from their poles that are billions of miles long.
\nA disk of cooler gas and dust may surround the infant star. If it survives the blowtorch, the disk may give birth to planets \u2013 worlds born from the remains of stellar tadpoles.
\nThe Orion Nebula is visible to the unaided eye. It looks like a wide, fuzzy star in Orion\u2019s Sword. Orion is in the east and southeast at nightfall, with the sword to the right of its three-star belt.
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Script by Damond Benningfield
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