NGC 1333

NGC 1333, also known as the Embryo Nebula, is a reflection nebula located about 967 light-years from Earth in the northern constellation Perseus. This nebula is an active star-forming region (stellar nursery) within the larger Perseus molecular cloud. It contains young star clusters that are still in their evolving clouds. These stars will eventually contract and begin burning hydrogen. The reflection nebula has a total mass of about 450 times that of our Sun. Young stellar objects in the Embryo Nebula produce jets and bipolar outflows. Some of these are associated with Herbig-Haro objects (a Herbig-Haro Object (HH), a nebula-like, active region in space associated with a star-forming region). These are smaller fragments of the nebula that form when jets of partially ionized gas ejected by stars collide with surrounding clouds of gas and dust.