NASA / ESA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured this dazzling image of the sparking blue star cluster known as NGC 346, located 210,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Tucana. This nebula is a part of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way.
What really stands out in this image are the dozens of hot, high-mass stars that may look peculiar in this new view because Hubble captured them with its ability to observe them in ultraviolet light. Why is ultraviolet light significant? It helps astronomers understand more about star formation and evolution, or more specifically, how star formation shapes the interstellar medium.
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Astronomers call any element heavier than hydrogen and helium ‘metals,’ and the SMC contains fewer metals when compared to most parts of our Milky Way. This condition makes it an excellent example of a galaxy similar to those that existed in our early universe, when very few heavy elements were around to incorporate,” said the NASA Hubble Mission Team.
