#young stars
Similar in size to large, bright spiral galaxies in our neighborhood, IC 342 is a mere 10 million light-years distant in the northern constellation of Camelopardalis. It would be a prominent galaxy in our night sky, but it is hidden from clear view and only glimpsed through the veil of stars, gas and dust clouds along the plane of the Milky Way galaxy. Even though IC 342’s light is dimmed and reddened by intervening cosmic clouds, this sharp telescopic image shows the galaxy’s dust, young star clusters, and glowing pink star forming regions along spiral arms that wind far from the galaxy’s core. IC 342 may have undergone a recent burst of star formation activity and is close enough to have gravitationally influenced the evolution of the local group of galaxies and the Milky Way.
Image Credit & Copyright: Daniel Feller
A beautiful emission nebula and star cluster can be found far in the southern skies within the constellation Carina. Stars from NGC 3572 are toward top center in the telescopic frame that would measure about 100 light-years across, while the cluster’s estimated distance is 9,000 light-years. The visible interstellar gas and dust is part of the star cluster’s natal molecular cloud. Dense streams of material within the nebula, eroded by stellar winds and radiation, trail away from the energetic young stars. They are likely sites of ongoing star formation. In the coming tens to hundreds of millions of years, gas and stars in the cluster will be dispersed by gravitational tides and by violent supernova explosions that end the short lives of the massive cluster stars.
Image Credit & Copyright: Carlos Taylor
