Westerlund 2, a giant cluster of 3,000 stars, resides in a raucous stellar breeding ground known as Gum 29. The giant star cluster is only about 2 million years old and contains some of our galaxy's hottest, brightest, and most massive stars.
The bright colors in this image aren’t just beautiful to look at, as they actually tell us about the population of stars within this barred spiral galaxy.
This galaxy, called NGC 1569, sparkles with the light from millions of newly formed young stars. The core's centerpiece is a grouping of three giant star clusters, each containing more than a million stars.
Unlike most globular clusters, the stars of NGC 1850 are relatively young. Globular clusters with young stars such as NGC 1850 are not present in our own Milky Way galaxy.
The delicate sheets and intricate filaments are debris from the cataclysmic death of a massive star that once lived in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way.
This Hubble Space Telescope image shows how young, energetic, massive stars illuminate and sculpt their birthplace with powerful winds and searing ultraviolet radiation.
This ethereal image reveals the young stars that are being formed within the pillars. It also uncovers a myriad of background stars that were hidden at visible wavelengths.