Posted on 09/27/2014 9:40:49 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: The large stellar association cataloged as NGC 206 is nestled within the dusty arms of the neighboring Andromeda galaxy. Also known as M31, the spiral galaxy is a mere 2.5 million light-years away. NGC 206 is near top center in this gorgeous close-up of the southwestern extent of Andromeda's disk, a remarkable composite of data from space and ground-based observatories. The bright, blue stars of NGC 206 indicate its youth. In fact, its youngest massive stars are less than 10 million years old. Much larger than the open or galactic clusters of young stars in the disk of our Milky Way galaxy, NGC 206 spans about 4,000 light-years. That's comparable in size to the giant stellar nurseries NGC 604 in nearby spiral M33 and the Tarantula Nebula, in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Star forming sites within Andromeda are revealed by the telltale reddish emission from clouds of ionized hydrogen gas.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Credit and Copyright: Subaru Telescope (NAOJ), Hubble Space Telescope, Local Group Galaxy Survey (Phil Massey, PI), Mayall 4-meter , Robert Gendler]
The Big One is amazing. Anybody out there??????
There is so much going on there. All those little pink blots are nebulae ionized by star formation. The dark lanes are raw material for new stars. The bluish glow comes from starlight reflecting from dust so thin even a liberal wouldn’t complain about the second hand smoke. Stars that are 100,000 times as bright as our sun or more. The scale of it is beyond belief. To say we are specs compared to specs compared to specs compared to it is a gross overstatement.
I doubt it. No matter the size we're special,
because the universe was built around us.
Me likey
:)
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