Star Cluster Resembles 'Cosmic Wreath' In Chandra X-Ray Telescope Tour

Space.com

Check out an amazing view of star cluster NGC 602.  It "lies on the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud," according to the Chandra X-ray Telescope team.   Credit: NASA/CXC/A. Hobart

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00:00Visit Chandra's Beautiful Universe

00:05NGC 602

00:10Since antiquity, wreaths have symbolized the cycle of life, death, and rebirth.

00:16It is fitting, then, that one of the best places for astronomers to learn more about the stellar life cycle

00:22resembles a giant holiday wreath itself.

00:26The star cluster NGC 602 lies on the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud,

00:32which is one of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way, about 200,000 light-years from Earth.

00:40The stars in NGC 602 have fewer, heavier elements compared to the Sun and most of the rest of the galaxy.

00:47Instead, the conditions within NGC 602 mimic those for stars found billions of years ago,

00:54when the Universe was much younger.

00:56This new image combines data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and James Webb Space Telescope.

01:02The dark, ring-like outline of the wreath seen in JWST data is made up of dense clouds of filled gas.

01:09Meanwhile, X-rays from Chandra show young, massive stars that are illuminating the wreath,

01:15sending high-energy light into interstellar space.

01:19These X-rays are powered by winds flowing from the young, massive stars that are sprinkled throughout the cluster.

01:25The extended cloud in the Chandra data likely comes from the overlapping X-ray glow of thousands of young, low-mass stars in the cluster.

01:34The morearoid connection with the H-ray glow of thousands of stars in the cluster.

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