A bright patch of nebulosity created when jets of gas ejected by young protostars collide with surrounding interstellar material at high speeds, creating shock waves that ionize and heat the gas. These objects are visible markers of active star formation and stellar outflows.
Named after astronomers George Herbig and Guillermo Haro who independently discovered and studied these objects in the 1940s and 1950s. The hyphenated naming convention reflects their simultaneous but separate identification of these peculiar nebular features associated with star formation.
Herbig-Haro objects are like cosmic jet contrails that reveal baby stars throwing tantrums! These newborn protostars shoot out material at speeds up to 500 kilometers per second, creating brilliant shock fronts that can extend for light-years and change visibly over just a few years.
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