Above and Beyond: Star Cluster NGC 602

 

 

Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach.

 

All images, illustrations, and videos courtesy of NASA, ESA, and STScI except:

 

·       Image of reflection nebula NGC 1788 courtesy of T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF) & S. Pakzad (NOAO/AURA/NSF)

·       Taurus constellation drawing from Firmamentum Sobiescianum sive Uranographia by Johannes Hevelius, courtesy of the United States Naval Observatory

·       Orion constellation photo courtesy of Akira Fujii

·       Illustration of circumstellar disk and jets courtesy of ESO/L. Calçada/M. Kornmesser

·       Image of HH 34 jets courtesy of ESO

·       Star formation animation courtesy of Aimei Kutt (Brown University/STScI)

 

 

Written by Vanessa Thomas

Designed by John Godfrey

(SPEECH) 

 [SOOTHING MUSIC] 

(DESCRIPTION) 
 Text, STAR CLUSTER NGC 602. HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE. In a nearby galaxy, a cluster of hot, blue stars is obliterating the cloud of gas that gave it life. 

Vibrant blue stars shine in the middle of an orange and white nebula among other stars and black outer space. 

Text, Potent winds and high-energy radiation let loose by the young stars are eating away at the inner edge of the nebula. 

Dense parts of the cloud resist erosion, though, and jut out from the craggy rim. 

Circles highlight jutting edges of the nebula. 

Text, These towers of resistance point back to the stars guilty of the attack. 

The jutting edges point towards the large blue stars in the middle of the nebula.