Flaming sword

Here a striking blue ‘sword’ appears to pierce a cosmic ‘heart’ made of gas and dust. The ‘sword’ is formed of two jets of superheated, ionised gas reaching out into space from opposite poles of a newborn star, called IRAS 05491+024. The powerful jets then collide with the clouds of gas and dust surrounding the newly formed star, creating a rare celestial sight known as a Herbig-Haro object.

The one photographed here by the Hubble Space Telescope is called HH 111. It lies approximately 1,300 light years away in the constellation of Orion.