Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 7, 1995                   TAG: 9506070083
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: C-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

IN SPACE, A STAR IS BORN AS HUBBLE OBSERVES

NASA released Hubble images Tuesday that show for the first time the intricate and violent details of the formation of stars. The pictures, of objects up to 1,500 light years away, give the best observational support yet for elements in theories on star creation, astronomers said.

The pictures show powerful jets of superheated gas exploding away from the core of a forming star and streaking out into space at 186 miles per second.

As the jets smash into nearby dust and gas, the tight core of energy sets the heavens aglow, creating streamers of light that swirl and shimmer across billions and billions of miles.

``Everyone has always predicted this, but actually being able to see it is really remarkable,'' said Bruce Margon, a University of Washington astronomer.

He said that such jets were once thought to be a rare phenomenon, but aided by the Hubble images, astronomers now realize that the explosion of energy is the normal result of gas and dust coming together to form stars.

The forming star itself, at the core of the accretion disk, is obscured by dust and cannot be seen.

Stars form from huge gas clouds that are set into rotation as material, nudged by the force of gravity, falls at increasing speeds into the center. As the material compresses, becoming denser and denser, the rotation increases and jets of superheated material are explosively ejected in bursts from both poles of the forming star.

Eventually, the disk becomes dense enough at its core to ignite the nuclear fires that power stars.