NASA unveils cosmic wreath: A glimpse into early universe
NASA has prepared a truly stellar gift - a new image of the star cluster NGC 602, located 200,000 light-years from Earth.
The new image is the result of collaboration between some of the most advanced space telescopes in the world. The data were prepared by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the James Webb Space Telescope. The joint work depicts the star cluster NGC 602. This stellar "wreath" is located on the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud, one of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way, approximately 200,000 light-years away from our planet.
This is a peculiar formation of young stars from the early universe
NGC 602 is an exceptional formation of young, hot blue stars. As NASA reports, "The green hues and feathery edges of the ring cloud create the appearance of a wreath made of evergreen boughs. Hints of red representing X-rays provide shading, highlighting layers within the wreath-like ring cloud." The gas from which they were formed still envelops them. NASA describes it as "one can see how their radiation pierces the cluster and moves towards the blue stars." Astronomers note this gas differs from that found in the much larger Milky Way.
This is because, as NASA explains, the gas in the Small Magellanic Cloud, where they are located, contains fewer heavy elements — created by the explosion and rebuilding of many generations of stars — compared to the Milky Way. Astronomers believe that NGC 602 serves as a valuable analogue of stars that formed billions of years ago when the universe was younger. The NGC 602 cluster may give us a glimpse of what the early universe looked like.
Collaboration of two advanced telescopes
The new image, which NASA shared for the holidays, is a composite of data collected by the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the most powerful X-ray telescope in the world, alongside a previously published image from the James Webb Space Telescope. The dark ring resembling a wreath visible in Webb's data (represented as orange, yellow, green, and blue) consists of dense clouds filled with dust.
As NASA emphasizes, the X-ray data from Chandra, shown in red, reveals the presence of young, massive stars emitting high-energy radiation. The orange, yellow, green, and blue infrared data highlight the complex structures of dust and gas in this region. Together, the data creates an image of the stellar life cycle, from their formation to the dispersion of stellar matter, NASA informs.
