Images from outer space, returned by the Hubble Telescope, reveal a strange, undiscovered opening in the universe.

The Hubble telescope, which has served as mankind’ eyes and ears in deep space for more than three decades, has once again astounded scientists across the globe by beaming back pH๏τos of a cosmic keyhole. The mirror nebula NGC 1999, located in the constellation Orion, has been captured in a picture by the airborne observatory.

The nebula is located in the area of mᴀssive star formation that is the closest to Earth and is about 1,350 light years distant. According to NASA, NGC 1999 is made up of leftover material from a newly formed star and is a remnant of recent star formation. The picture depicts NGC 1999 shining under the illumination of an embedded source, much like fog enveloping a streetlight.

This portrait from Hubble Space Telescope’s data showcases NGC 1999. (PH๏τo: Nasa)

The newborn star V380 Orionis, which is seen in the image’s center, is the source in the instance of NGC 1999, according to a statement from Nasa. The picture has a large, obvious hole in the middle of it that resembles a cosmic-sized keyhole of inky blackness.

Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 archived data from soon after Servicing Mission 3A in 1999 were used to create the picture. According to NASA, scientists at the time thought the black area in NGC 1999 was a Bok globule, a compact, icy cloud of gas, molecules, and cosmic dust that blocks out background light.

However, further investigations showed that the black patch is essentially an empty area of space, and the cause of this mysterious gap in the center of NGC 1999 is still unclear. A variety of telescopes, including the Herschel Space Observatory from the ESA, were used by astronomers to examine the cosmic feature.

Despite the functioning of the James Webb Telescope, Hubble continued to astound the globe. The space-based observatory captured a pair of colliding galaxies in outer space in October against a surreal backdrop of light from faraway stars and galaxies.