Photo of the Day: Star City Beyond the Milky Way
The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) invites you to admire the magnificent image of the next object in the vastness of the universe.
The photograph, transmitted to Earth from the Hubble orbiting telescope, shows a structure designated NGC 602. It is an emission nebula with an open cluster.
The nebula is located outside the Milky Way – in the Small Magellanic Cloud. The image shows a large number of bright blue stars, formed relatively recently. Moreover, as noted, the star formation processes proceed here and at the present time.
The birth of new stars began in the central region of the cluster, after which a peculiar wave of star formation swept the periphery. The picture shows bizarre dust clouds. Below you can see the photo in full resolution – click to enlarge.
Note that last year Hubble celebrated its thirtieth anniversary: the launch of the Discovery STS-31 shuttle with this vehicle was carried out on April 24, 1990. During its operation, the space observatory has gone through five service missions, during which specialists have replaced many nodes.
