NGC 7129 (vdB 146) - The Cosmic Rosebud

Roughly 3,000 light years away in the Cepheus constellation, the Cosmic Rosebud, NGC 7129, works away at creating new stars. Scientists have determined that there are at least 130 young stars in the Rosebud.

The region is surrounded by cold dust (the brown stuff) that is excellent material for forming new stars. The young stars at the center of attention blast copious amounts of light into it. The dust scatters it and we see this blue glow in what we call a reflection nebula.

The small crescent-shaped forms sprinkled around the top and bottom of the nebula are what we call Herbig-Haro objects. Herbig-Haro objects are areas of bright nebulosity created by jets from newly formed stars.

The nebula also produces a number of water masers. A maser is similar to a laser, but instead of emitting visible light, a maser emits microwaves. A water maser occurs when water molecules are excited by high-energy radiation, such as the accretion disk of a black hole, a supernova explosion, or even a large star. The water molecules then amplify that radiation resulting in a water maser. Water masers are fairly common in the universe.