                        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.

                               2024 October 29
      A starfield is shown featuring many stars in the center and many
      pillars of interstellar dust around the edges pointing toward the
   center. The main image is in infrared light, and a rollover image from
        Hubble shows the same scene in visible light. Please see the
                 explanation for more detailed information.

                   NGC 602: Stars Versus Pillars from Webb
   Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, P. Zeidler, E. Sabbi, A. Nota, M. Zamani
                                 (ESA/Webb)

   Explanation: The stars are destroying the pillars. More specifically,
   some of the newly formed stars in the image center are emitting light
   so energetic that is evaporating the gas and dust in the surrounding
   pillars. Simultaneously, the pillars themselves are still trying to
   form new stars. The whole setting is the star cluster NGC 602, and this
   new vista was taken by the Webb Space Telescope in multiple infrared
   colors. In comparison, a roll-over image shows the same star cluster in
   visible light, taken previously by the Hubble Space Telescope. NGC 602
   is located near the perimeter of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), a
   small satellite galaxy of our Milky Way galaxy. At the estimated
   distance of the SMC, the featured picture spans about 200 light-years.
   A tantalizing assortment of background galaxies are also visible --
   mostly around the edges -- that are at least hundreds of millions of
   light-years beyond.

                       Tomorrow's picture: head space
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
                  NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

