Open Star Cluster, Ngc 346, Smc
by Science Source
Title
Open Star Cluster, Ngc 346, Smc
Artist
Science Source
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
Hubble astronomers uncovered a population of infant stars in the Milky Way satellite galaxy, the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), located 210,000 light-years away and visible in the southern constellation Tucana. The infant stars embedded in the nebula NGC 346 are still forming from gravitationally collapsing gas clouds. They have not yet ignited their hydrogen fuel to sustain nuclear fusion. The smallest of these infant stars is only half the mass of our Sun. Although star birth is common within the disk of our galaxy, this smaller companion galaxy is more primeval in that it lacks a large percentage of the heavier elements that are forged in successive generations of stars through nuclear fusion. Fragmentary galaxies like the SMC are considered primitive building blocks of larger galaxies. Most of these types of galaxies existed far away, when the universe was much younger. The SMC offers a unique nearby laboratory for understanding how stars arose in the early universe. Nestled among other starburst regions with the small galaxy, the nebula NGC 346 alone contains more than 2,500 infant stars. The Hubble images, taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys, identify three stellar populations in the SMC and in the region of the NGC 346 nebula, comprising a total of 70,000 stars. The oldest population is 4.5 billion years, roughly the age of our Sun. The younger population arose only 5 million years ago. Curiously, the infant stars are strung along two intersecting lanes in the nebula, resembling a "T" pattern in the Hubble plot.
Uploaded
December 2nd, 2015
Statistics
Viewed 1,100 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/20/2024 at 8:30 AM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet
Comments
There are no comments for Open Star Cluster, Ngc 346, Smc. Click here to post the first comment.