9.
New stars shed
light on the past
This Hubble image depicts bright blue newly formed stars that are
blowing a cavity in the centre of a fascinating star-forming region
known as N90.
The high energy radiation blazing out from the hot young stars in N90
is eroding the outer portions of the nebula from the inside, as the
diffuse outer reaches of the nebula prevent the energetic outflows
from streaming away from the cluster directly. Because N90 is located
far from the central body of the Small Magellanic Cloud, numerous
background galaxies in this picture can be seen, delivering a grand
backdrop for the stellar newcomers. The dust in the region gives these
distant galaxies a reddish-brown tint.
Credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team STScI/AURA)-ESA/
Hubble Collaboration
“I have fond memories of the Comet ShoemakerLevy 9 impacts with Jupiter in 1994 [#52]. Many
scientists, including myself, spent all week at the
Space Telescope Science Institute analyzing the
data and generating color images and maps of
the impact scars in Jupiter’s clouds. Because the
telescope mirror had recently been corrected,
the beautiful details visible in every image were
amazing.
“Since then, I find that every new image is just
as exciting and awe-inspiring. Perhaps one
of my favorite images of Jupiter is from 2014
[#97]. We were using Hubble to study changes
in the Great Red Spot, and when we began to
process the images, we realized Ganymede’s
shadow was directly in the way!
“It was just incredibly poor timing, but it made for
a spectacular and fun image.”
— Dr. Amy A. Simon
Senior Scientist for Planetary Atmospheres
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland