HH47 Puts on a Show

This amazing video was released recently by Hubble of a jet coming from a young star.  Taken over 14 years from 1994 to 2008, these images give us a rare look at the time evolution of an astrophysical system.  Normally it is impossible to see time variability in large astronomical objects as their shear size and distance give them evolution times that are much longer than any human could hope to see.  However, some objects are close enough, small enough or moving fast enough that we can make out their motion as shown in the above clip.

The above object is called HH47.  HH is the designation for a Herbig-Haro object.  HH objects are now known to be glowing portions of jets that are ejected by a young star when it forms.  These jets originate at the accretion disc of the star and then are collimated by magnetic fields and rotation.  The clumpiness and structure in the jet is currently a subject of much study in the astrophysical fluids community.  The nature of the clumps and their formation can tell us a lot about the formation of the jet and its propagation.