Composite Image Shows Superbubble In The Large Magellanic Cloud

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NASA has released a hauntingly beautiful composite image showing a superbubble in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The LMC is a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way located about 160,000 light years from Earth.

A superbubble is a cavity, filled with 106 Kelvin gas blown into the interstellar medium by multiple supernovae and stellar winds, hundreds of light years across. These cavities are carved out of the surrounding gas by the shockwaves and winds from supernova explosions.

Many new stars, some of them very massive, are forming in the star cluster NGC 1929, which is embedded in the nebula N44, so named because it is the 44th nebula in a catalog of such objects in the Magellanic Clouds. The massive stars produce intense radiation, expel matter at high speeds and race through their evolution to explode as supernovas.

In the image, x-rays from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue) show hot regions created by those winds and shockwaves. Infrared data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope (red) outline where the dust and cooler gas are found. Optical light from the 2.2 meter Max-Planck-ESO telescope (yellow) in Chile shows where ultraviolet radiation from hot, young stars is causing gas in the nebula to glow.


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http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1112685388/superbubble-large-magellanic-cloud-083112/