A glittering tapestry of young stars flares to life in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope observation. These detailed close-ups are sections of a stunning image that is being released in celebration of Hubble's 25 years of exploring the universe since its launch on April 24, 1990.
[Top Left] The sparkling centerpiece of Hubble's silver anniversary tribute is Westerlund 2, a giant cluster of about 3,000 stars located 20,000 light-years away in the constellation Carina. Hubble's near-infrared imaging camera pierces through the dusty veil enshrouding the stellar nursery, giving astronomers a clear view of the dense concentration of stars in the central cluster. The 2-million-year-old giant star cluster measures about 6 to 13 light-years across and contains some of our galaxy's hottest, brightest, most massive stars.
[Top Right] The cluster is surrounded by the star-forming region, Gum 29. The heaviest cluster stars are unleashing a torrent of ultraviolet radiation and hurricane-force winds streaming with charged particles, etching away the enveloping hydrogen gas cloud from where the cluster formed. The nebula reveals a fantasy landscape of pillars, ridges, valleys, and reddish-brown filaments of dense gas and dust. The brightest stars in the image are Milky Way foreground stars not associated with Westerlund 2.
[Bottom Left] The pillars in the star-forming region surrounding Westerlund 2, composed of dense gas, are a few light-years tall and point to the central cluster. They are thought to be incubators for new stars. Besides sculpting the gaseous terrain, intense radiation from the most brilliant of the cluster stars is creating a successive generation of baby stars. The bluish haze is an indicator of oxygen gas in the nebula.
[Bottom Right] The red dots scattered throughout the landscape around Westerlund 2 are a rich population of newly forming stars still wrapped in their gas-and-dust cocoons. These tiny, faint stars are between 1 million and 2 million years old and have not yet ignited the hydrogen in their cores. Hubble's near-infrared vision allows astronomers to identify these fledgling stars.
Credits
NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), A. Nota (ESA/STScI), and the Westerlund 2 Science Team| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Westerlund 2, Gum 29 |
| Object Description | Cluster and Starforming Region |
| R.A. Position | 10h 23m 58.1s |
| Dec. Position | -57° 45' 48.96" |
| Constellation | Carina |
| Distance | 20,000 light-years (6,130 parsecs) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | Data of Westerlund 2 were obtained from the HST proposals : A. Nota (ESA/STScI), E. Sabbi and C. Christian (STScI), E. Grebel and P. Zeidler (Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg), M. Tosi (INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna), A. Bonanos (National Observatory of Athens, Astronomical Institute), and S. de Mink (University of Amsterdam); and : Z. Levay, M. Mutchler, J. Mack, L. Frattare, S. Meyett, M. Livio, and C. Christian (STScI/AURA), K. Noll (NASA/GSFC), A. Nota (STScI/ESA), and E. Sabbi (STScI). |
| Instrument | HST>ACS/WFC and HST>WFC3/IR |
| Exposure Dates | September 2013 - November 2014, Total Exposure Time: 23,074 seconds |
| Filters | ACS/WFC: F555W (V) and F814W (I) WFC3/IR: F125W (J) |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | These images are composites of separate exposures acquired by the ACS and the WFC3 instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope. Several filters were used to sample broad and narrow wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Edge/Nebula Blue: F555W (V) Green: F555W (V) and F814W (I) Red: F814W (I) Central portion of Westerlund 2 Cluster Blue: F555W (V) Green: F814W (I) Red: F125W (J) |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
