Nasa just released a picture that rivals any of the recent July 4th fireworks displays. In honor of our national Independence Day, NASA posted a picture that has garnered the delight of many people. The picture is a beautiful display of scattering young stars. The natural event, according to NASA is “like a July 4 fireworks display.”
About 20,000 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Carina, a constellation of young stars glitters within a vast nebula. The cluster of young stars, which NASA has called NGC 3603, may be referenced in a clinical manner, but its brilliance is completely romantic.
But the beauty may just be masking the true turmoil it is facing.
NASA reports: “Appearing colorful and serene, this environment is anything but. Ultraviolet radiation and violent stellar winds have blown out an enormous cavity in the gas and dust enveloping the cluster. … These huge stars live fast and die young, burning through their hydrogen fuel quickly and ultimately ending their lives in supernova explosions.”
NGC 3603 is so much more that a beautiful light show that rivals a July 4th fireworks show. It provides valuable astronomic information. NASA believes that studying the constellation will “provide important clues to understanding the origin of massive star formation in the early, distant universe.”
NGC 3603 was discovered by English astronomer and polymath John Herschel. He designated it a nebula in his Results of Astronomical Observations in 1847.
Look closely at the brilliance of this picture take 20,000 light-years from earth. How does it compare to the fireworks display you witness below the stars?
What are your thoughts about the ultraviolet radiation that is affecting this young stars? Let us see your comments in the section below this article.
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