In this whimsical image, we encounter a cluster of stars situated near a molecular cloud. Called
NGC 3572, this starscape can be found around 6,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Carina.
This view, which was acquired by the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory, captures the cluster at a pivotal point in its evolution. Despite their young age, the stars will only live a fraction of the time their lesser-counterparts (like the Sun) will. In fact, they are so massive, they will
explode as supernovae in a few millions of years.
Importantly, the image gives insight into the
gas-sculpted bubbles surrounding the central stars, which form as a result of intense stellar winds. In the case of NGC 3572, they are merely a symptom of their chaotic environment, whereby the stars did not form alone, but with multiple partners.
As you can see, they've had a rather beautiful impact on their surroundings, including the molecular cloud from which they were born (seen in black). Gradually, as the stars took shape, the stellar winds started carving huge chunks out of the gas, setting the rest of it alight.
[box style="0"] A strange feature captured in this image is the tiny ring-like nebula located slightly above the center of the image. Astronomers still are a little uncertain about the origin of this curious feature. It is probably a dense leftover from the molecular cloud that formed the cluster, perhaps a bubble created around a very bright hot star. But some authors have considered that it may be some kind of oddly shaped planetary nebula — the remnants of a dying star. [/box]
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