Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2025 May 2
Science -NASA,ESA,CSA,Olivia C. Jones (UK ATC), Guido De Marchi (ESTEC), Margaret Meixner (USRA)
Processing - Alyssa Pagan (STScI), Nolan Habel (USRA),Laura Lenkić (USRA), Laurie E. U. Chu (NASA Ames)
Explanation: The most massive young star cluster in theSmall Magellanic Cloud is NGC 346,embedded in our small satellite galaxy's largest star forming regionsome 210,000 light-years distant.Of course themassive stars of NGC 346 are short lived, but veryenergetic. Their winds and radiationsculpt the edgesof the region's dusty molecular cloud triggering star-formation within.The star forming region also appears tocontain a large population of infant stars.A mere 3 to 5 million years old and not yetburning hydrogenin their cores, theinfant starsare strewn about the embedded star cluster.This spectacular infrared viewof NGC 346 isfrom the James Webb Space Telescope'sNIRcam.Emission from atomic hydrogen ionized by the massive stars' energeticradiation as well as molecular hydrogen and dustin the star-forming molecular cloud is detailed in pink and orange hues.Webb's sharp imageof the young star-forming regionspans 240 light-years at the distance of the Small Magellanic Cloud.
<| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar| RSS| Education| About APOD| Discuss| >
Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff(MTU) &Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber StraughnSpecific rights apply.
NASA WebPrivacy Policy and Important Notices
A service of:ASD atNASA /GSFC,
NASA ScienceActivation
& Michigan Tech. U.
