Reflection nebulae like NGC 1999 only shine because of the light from an embedded source.
"This peculiar portrait from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope showcases NGC 1999, a reflection nebula in the constellation Orion," stated an"NGC 1999 is around 1350 light-years from Earth and lies near to the Orion Nebula, the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. NGC 1999 itself is a relic of recent star formation — it is composed of detritus left over from the formation of a newborn star.
ESA compares the image to "fog curling around a street lamp" and states that reflection nebulae like NGC 1999 only shine because of the light from an embedded source. "In the case of NGC 1999, this source is the aforementioned newborn star V380 Orionis which is visible at the center of this image. The most notable aspect of NGC 1999's appearance, however, is the conspicuous hole in its center, which resembles an inky-black keyhole of cosmic proportions," the agency explains.
The image is not entirely new. It has been created from archival Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 observations that were collected shortly after Servicing Mission 3A in 1999.At first, astronomers speculated that the dark keyhole in NGC 1999 was something called a Bok globule — a dense, cold cloud of gas, molecules, and cosmic dust that blots out background light.
The spiral galaxy, called NGC 7172, was located roughly 110 million light-years away from Earth in the Piscis Austrinus constellation. The image was a combination of two different captures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3.of the Orion Nebula, one of the Milky Way's most studied and photographed objects and a nest of material where young stars are being formed.