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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.

A Star Forming Region in the LMC

Explanation: Stars sometimes form in colorful ways. Pictured above is a small region in the nearby LMC galaxy where stars are forming. After a star is born , it may do several things to energize its immediate neighborhood. It may develop a strong wind which pushes away nearby gas ; it may be so hot and intense that emitted light boils away nearby dust and gas , and it may be so massive that it soon goes supernova and catapults its elements back to the interstellar medium . Astronomers study regions like this - named DEM192 - to better understand how these and other processes proceed. This picture is a composite of three separate photographs, each sensitive to only one specific color of light - a color that distinguishes a specific chemical element .

Date June 25, 1996
Credit Credit: C. Smith (U. Michigan), Curtis Schmidt Telescope, CTIO, Chile
Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U.