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Friday, August 31, 2012

NGC 1929


NGC 1929: A star cluster embedded within the N44 nebula, which is located about 160,000 light years from Earth.

The star cluster NGC 1929 contains massive stars that produce intense radiation, expel matter at high speeds, and race through their evolution to explode as supernovas. The winds and shock waves carve out huge cavities called superbubbles in the surrounding gas. X-rays from Chandra (blue) in this composite image reveal the regions created by these winds and shocks, while infrared data from Spitzer (red) outline where the dust and cooler gas are found. Optical light from an ESO telescope in Chile (yellow) shows where ultraviolet radiation from the young stars is causing the gas to glow.

Scale: Image is: 25 arcmin across (1200 light years).

Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/U.Mich./S.Oey, IR: NASA/JPL, Optical: ESO/WFI/2.2-m)

Note: For more information, see NGC 1929 in N44: A Surprisingly Bright Superbubble.

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