APOD240912 Young Star Cluster NGC 1333
Young Star Cluster NGC 1333
Image Credit: ESA/Webb[1], NASA[2], CSA[3], A. Scholz, K. Muzic, A. Langeveld, R. Jayawardhana
Explanation: This spectacular mosaic[4] of images from the James Webb Space Telescope peers into the heart of young star cluster NGC 1333. A mere 1,000 light-years distant toward the heroic constellation Perseus[5], the nearby star cluster lies at the edge of the large Perseus molecular cloud. Part of Webb's deep exploration[6] of the region to identify low mass brown dwarf stars and free floating planets, the space telescope's combined field of view spans nearly 2 light-years across the dusty cluster's[7] turbulent stellar nursery. In fact, NGC 1333 is known to harbor stars less than a million years old, though most are hidden from optical telescopes[8] by the pervasive stardust[9]. The chaotic environment may be similar to one in which our own Sun formed over 4.5 billion years ago.
Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space[10]
Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff[11] (MTU[12]) & Jerry Bonnell[13] (UMCP[14])
NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply[15].
NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices[16]
A service of: ASD[17] at NASA[18] / GSFC[19],
NASA Science Activation[20]
& Michigan Tech. U.[21]
[3]https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/
[4]https://esawebb.org/images/potm2408b/
[5]http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/per/index.html
[6]https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.12639
[7]https://esawebb.org/videos/potm2408a/
[8]http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/224-ssc2005-24-Beautiful-Chaos-of-Star-Birth
[9]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210318.html
[10]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240913.html
[11]http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
[13]https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
[15]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
[16]https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
[17]https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
[19]https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
[20]https://science.nasa.gov/learners
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240912.html
http://sprite.phys.ncku.edu.tw/astrolab/mirrors/apod/ap240912.html