HUBBLE: Spectacular UV view of NGC 346

[AVAO]

Hubble captures unique ultraviolet view of a spectacular star cluster NGC 346 inestled within the SMC
NASA/ESA | Original release 2024 August 26

NGC 346 is nestled within the Small Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy to our Milky Way. NASA, ESA, and C. Murray (Space Telescope Science Institute); Image Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

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Nested within the SMC is this spectacular star cluster, known as NGC 346. Its hot stars unleash a torrent of radiation and energetic outflows, which erode the denser portions of gas and dust in the surrounding nebula, N66. Dozens of hot, blue, and high-mass stars shine within NGC 346, and astronomers believe this cluster contains more than half of the known high-mass stars in the whole SMC.
[...]
Hubble – with its combined sharp resolution and position above our UV-blocking atmosphere – is the only telescope with the ability to make sensitive, ultraviolet observations.
[...]
These specific observations were gathered to learn more about how star formation shapes the interstellar medium, which is the gas distributed throughout seemingly empty space, in a low-metallicity galaxy like the SMC.

... read more

GOTD4Y Jac

[Ann]

Hubble captures unique ultraviolet view of a spectacular star cluster NGC 346 inestled within the SMC
NASA/ESA | Original release 2024 August 26

NGC 346 is nestled within the Small Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy to our Milky Way. NASA, ESA, and C. Murray (Space Telescope Science Institute); Image Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

---

Nested within the SMC is this spectacular star cluster, known as NGC 346. Its hot stars unleash a torrent of radiation and energetic outflows, which erode the denser portions of gas and dust in the surrounding nebula, N66. Dozens of hot, blue, and high-mass stars shine within NGC 346, and astronomers believe this cluster contains more than half of the known high-mass stars in the whole SMC.
[...]
Hubble – with its combined sharp resolution and position above our UV-blocking atmosphere – is the only telescope with the ability to make sensitive, ultraviolet observations.
[...]
These specific observations were gathered to learn more about how star formation shapes the interstellar medium, which is the gas distributed throughout seemingly empty space, in a low-metallicity galaxy like the SMC.

... read more

GOTD4Y Jac

Amazing image, Jac!! I'm a sucker for ultraviolet images, because they show us the blue objects in the Universe!

I absolutely love the pair of images that show the difference between the visible and ultraviolet appearance of NGC 346:

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Just look at the resolution of the cluster of hot bright blue stars in the ultraviolet image! Spectacular! I'm also grateful that it is the stars that are blue and the background that is non-blue in the UV image, because that is the way it is in reality. Okay, in a "true color" image the background behind the stars would not be brown, but it would not be bright blue, either. The background is probably a mixture of red hydrogen alpha and blue-green OIII, which would create a bright yellowish background.

Note that you can indeed see the rich old cluster of stars at the top of the image even at UV wavelengths. And fascinating new structures, and at least one very obvious site of star formation, are revealed in Hubble's ultraviolet portrait of NGC 346.

The picture is gorgeous and spectacular!!

Ann

[AVAO]

Hubble captures unique ultraviolet view of a spectacular star cluster NGC 346 inestled within the SMC
NASA/ESA | Original release 2024 August 26

NGC 346 is nestled within the Small Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy to our Milky Way. NASA, ESA, and C. Murray (Space Telescope Science Institute); Image Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

---

Nested within the SMC is this spectacular star cluster, known as NGC 346. Its hot stars unleash a torrent of radiation and energetic outflows, which erode the denser portions of gas and dust in the surrounding nebula, N66. Dozens of hot, blue, and high-mass stars shine within NGC 346, and astronomers believe this cluster contains more than half of the known high-mass stars in the whole SMC.
[...]
Hubble – with its combined sharp resolution and position above our UV-blocking atmosphere – is the only telescope with the ability to make sensitive, ultraviolet observations.
[...]
These specific observations were gathered to learn more about how star formation shapes the interstellar medium, which is the gas distributed throughout seemingly empty space, in a low-metallicity galaxy like the SMC.

... read more

GOTD4Y Jac

Amazing image, Jac!! I'm a sucker for ultraviolet images, because they show us the blue objects in the Universe!

I absolutely love the pair of images that show the difference between the visible and ultraviolet appearance of NGC 346:

---

Just look at the resolution of the cluster of hot bright blue stars in the ultraviolet image! Spectacular! I'm also grateful that it is the stars that are blue and the background that is non-blue in the UV image, because that is the way it is in reality. Okay, in a "true color" image the background behind the stars would not be brown, but it would not be bright blue, either. The background is probably a mixture of red hydrogen alpha and blue-green OIII, which would create a bright yellowish background.

Note that you can indeed see the rich old cluster of stars at the top of the image even at UV wavelengths. And fascinating new structures, and at least one very obvious site of star formation, are revealed in Hubble's ultraviolet portrait of NGC 346.

The picture is gorgeous and spectacular!!

Ann

ThanX Ann
I know, you blue.
Jac

Click to view full size image 1 or image 2

Original data: NASA/ESA JWST(IR)&HST(UV) versus HST(Opt.) jac berne (flickr)

[Ann]

Amazing image, Jac!! I'm a sucker for ultraviolet images, because they show us the blue objects in the Universe!

I absolutely love the pair of images that show the difference between the visible and ultraviolet appearance of NGC 346:

---

Just look at the resolution of the cluster of hot bright blue stars in the ultraviolet image! Spectacular! I'm also grateful that it is the stars that are blue and the background that is non-blue in the UV image, because that is the way it is in reality. Okay, in a "true color" image the background behind the stars would not be brown, but it would not be bright blue, either. The background is probably a mixture of red hydrogen alpha and blue-green OIII, which would create a bright yellowish background.

Note that you can indeed see the rich old cluster of stars at the top of the image even at UV wavelengths. And fascinating new structures, and at least one very obvious site of star formation, are revealed in Hubble's ultraviolet portrait of NGC 346.

The picture is gorgeous and spectacular!!

Ann

ThanX Ann
I know, you blue.
Jac

Click to view full size image 1 or image 2

Original data: NASA/ESA JWST(IR)&HST(UV) versus HST(Opt.) jac berne (flickr)

Another spectacular image from you, Jac!

Ann