APOD
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.
NGC 3603: An Active Star Cluster
Explanation: NGC 3603 is home to a massive star cluster, thick dust pillars, and a star about to explode . The central open cluster contains about 2000 bright stars, each of which is much brighter and more massive than our Sun . Together, radiation s from these stars are energizing and pushing away surrounding material, making NGC 3603 one of the most interesting HII regions known. NGC 3603 is about 20,000 light-years away, and the region shown is about 20 light-years across. Possibly most interesting about this recently released, representative-color picture are the large number of dim stars visible. These stars are less massive than our Sun, demonstrating that great numbers of low-mass stars also form in active starburst regions .
| Date | October 18, 1999 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Credit: B. Brandl (Cornell) et al., ISAAC, VLT, ESO |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |