Knotheads

Dense knots of iron-rich gas plow through clouds of hydrogen gas, leaving expanding "wakes" behind them in this image of the outskirts of the Orion Nebula. The iron knots are blue, and form the heads of the orange pillars. The Orion Nebula is one of the richest stellar nurseries in our region of the galaxy, with the hydrogen clouds giving birth to thousands of stars. This image was shot on December 28, 2012, with an adaptive optics system, which compensates for the blurring effects of Earth's atmosphere, on the Gemini South Telescope in Chile. [Gemini Observatory/AURA]