                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                 2024 July 2
    A star cluster is shown in and around a gas cloud that looks like an
    oyster. The rollover image shows the same cluster not only in visible
   light, but X-ray and infrared too. Please see the explanation for more
                            detailed information.

                        NGC 602: Oyster Star Cluster
    Image Credit: X-ray: Chandra: NASA/CXC/Univ.Potsdam/L.Oskinova et al;
      Optical: Hubble: NASA/STScI; Infrared: Spitzer: NASA/JPL-Caltech

   Explanation: The clouds may look like an oyster, and the stars like
   pearls, but look beyond. Near the outskirts of the Small Magellanic
   Cloud, a satellite galaxy some 200 thousand light-years distant, lies
   this 5 million year old star cluster NGC 602. Surrounded by its birth
   shell of gas and dust, star cluster NGC 602 is featured in this
   stunning Hubble image, augmented in a rollover by images in the X-ray
   by the Chandra Observatory and in the infrared by Spitzer Telescope.
   Fantastic ridges and swept back gas strongly suggest that energetic
   radiation and shock waves from NGC 602's massive young stars have
   eroded the dusty material and triggered a progression of star formation
   moving away from the star cluster's center. At the estimated distance
   of the Small Magellanic Cloud, the featured picture spans about 200
   light-years, but a tantalizing assortment of background galaxies are
   also visible in this sharp view. The background galaxies are hundreds
   of millions of light-years -- or more -- beyond NGC 602.

                       Tomorrow's picture: open space
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

