Chandra Release - August 30, 2012

Visual Description: NGC 1929 in N44

 In this composite image, the main subject is a star cluster named NGC 1929, and it is dominated by vibrant blue, gold and red colors, on a dark background. The overall structure of the star cluster resembles that of an oddly shaped butterfly, with a smaller left wing pointed down towards the viewer and the large right wing pointing straight up. Both wings are made up of thousands of colorful stars and textured, nebulous clouds.  The right wing has blue, along with red and gold, while the left wing is just red and gold  This image essentially shows a superbubble in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. Many new stars, some of them very massive, are forming in NGC 1929, which is embedded in the nebula N44. The massive stars produce intense radiation, expel matter at high speeds, and race through their evolution to explode as supernovas. The winds and supernova shock waves carve out huge cavities called superbubbles in the surrounding gas. X-rays from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory (colored in blue) show hot regions created by these winds and shocks, while infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (in red) outline where the dust and cooler gas are found. The optical light from the 2.2m Max-Planck-ESO telescope (in yellow) shows where ultraviolet radiation from hot, young stars is causing gas in the nebula to glow.