| NASA Center: |
Hubble Space Telescope Institute |
| Image # : |
PR96-27B |
|---|
| Date : |
01/17/1995
|
|---|
|
Title
Nursery of New Stars
Full Description
This is a Hubble Space Telescope image (right) of a vast nebula
called NGC 604, which lies in the neighboring spiral galaxy M33,
located 2.7 million light-years away in the constellation Triangulum.
This is a site where new stars are being born in a spiral arm of the
galaxy. Though such nebulae are common in galaxies, this one is
particularly large, nearly 1,500 light-years across. The nebula is so
vast it is easily seen in ground-based telescopic images (left).
At the heart of NGC 604 are over 200 hot stars, much more massive than
our Sun (15 to 60 solar masses). They heat the gaseous walls of the
nebula making the gas fluoresce. Their light also highlights the
nebula's three-dimensional shape, like a lantern in a cavern. By
studying the physical structure of a giant nebula, astronomers may
determine how clusters of massive stars affect the evolution of the
interstellar medium of the galaxy.
The nebula also yields clues to its star formation history and will
improve understanding of the starburst process when a galaxy undergoes
a "firestorm" of star formation. The image was taken on January 17,
1995 with Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. Separate
exposures were taken in different colors of light to study the physical
properties of the hot gas (17,000 degrees Fahrenheit, 10,000 degrees
Kelvin
Keywords
Hubble Space Telescope HST NGC 604 Triangulum Nebula Spiral Galaxy Wide Field Planetary Camera WFPC Stellar Nursery
Subject Category
Deep Space Studies, Hubble,
Reference Numbers
- Center:
HSTI
- Center Number:
PR96-27B
- GRIN DataBase Number:
GPN-2000-000972
Source Information
- Creator/Photographer: NASA, Hui Yang University of Illinois ODNursery of New Stars
- Original Source: DIGITAL
| Resolution | Format | Width
(Pixels) | Height
(Pixels) | Size
(KBytes) |
| Thumbnail |
.jpg |
68 |
72 |
11 |
| Small |
.jpg |
481 |
512 |
376 |
| Medium |
.jpg |
1127 |
1201 |
2,477 |
| Large |
.jpg |
1127 |
1201 |
2,479 |
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