A striking new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows a star cluster called N11, which is part of the Large Magellanic Cloud.
This Hubble image shows the star cluster N11. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / C. Murray / J. Maíz Apellániz.
“This scene is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy situated about 160,000 light-years away in the constellations Dorado and Mensa,” the Hubble astronomers said in a statement.
“With a mass equal to 10-20% of the mass of the Milky Way, the Large Magellanic Cloud is the largest of the dozens of small galaxies that orbit our Galaxy.”
“The Large Magellanic Cloud is home to several massive stellar nurseries where gas clouds, like those strewn across this image, coalesce into new stars.”
The new Hubble image depicts a portion of the Large Magellanic Cloud’s second-largest star-forming region, N11.
“The most massive and prolific star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, the Tarantula Nebula, is a frequent target for Hubble,” the astronomers said.
“We see bright, young stars lighting up the gas clouds and sculpting clumps of dust with powerful ultraviolet radiation.”
“This image marries observations made roughly 20 years apart, a testament to Hubble’s longevity,” they added.
“The first set of observations, which were carried out in 2002-2003, capitalized on the exquisite sensitivity and resolution of the then-newly-installed Advanced Camera for Surveys.”
“We turned Hubble toward the N11 star cluster to do something that had never been done before at the time: catalogue all the stars in a young cluster with masses between 10% of the Sun’s mass and 100 times the Sun’s mass.”
“The second set of observations came from Hubble’s newest camera, the Wide Field Camera 3.”
“These images focused on the dusty clouds that suffuse the cluster, bringing a new perspective on cosmic dust.”
