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More Images: NASA Missions Spot Cosmic 'Wreath' Displaying Stellar Circle of Life
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X-ray & Infrared Images of NGC 602 and NGC 2264
Credit: NGC 602: X-ray: NASA/CXC; Infrared: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, P. Zeilder, E.Sabbi, A. Nota, M. Zamani; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare and K. Arcand; NGC 2264: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: Clow, M.; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare and K. Arcand
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NGC 602
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NGC 602
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NGC 602
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NGC 2264
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NGC 2264
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NGC 2264
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NGC 602 is a star cluster that lies on the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud, one of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way. These images combine X-rays from Chandra and infrared data from James Webb (JWST). The dark ring-like structure in the JWST data is made up of dense clouds of dust. Chandra’s X-rays show young, massive stars that are illuminating the dust clouds, sending high-energy light into interstellar space. These X-rays are powered by winds flowing from the young, massive stars that are sprinkled throughout the cluster.

A new version of the “Christmas tree cluster” is also shown. Like NGC 602, NGC 2264 is a cluster of young stars between one and five million years old. (For comparison, the Sun is a middle-aged star about 5 billion years old – about 1,000 times older.) In this image of NGC 2264, which is much closer than NGC 602 at a distance of about 2,500 light-years from Earth, Chandra data have been combined with optical data captured from by astrophotographer Michael Clow from his telescope in Arizona in November 2024.



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3D Printable Files: NGC 602
(3D Print Credit: NASA/CXC/A. Jubett, using software by Tactile Universe/N. Bonne & C. Krawczyk & Blender)
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This tactile plate is a physical relief map based on the intensity of Chandra X-ray and Webb infrared data, featuring a star cluster that strongly resembles the shape of a holiday wreath.

The cluster includes a giant dust cloud ring, filling up the edges of the plate. The bumpy, textured torus shape and feathery edges of the ring cloud create the shape of a wreath made of evergreen boughs. Smoother raised parts of the “wreath” representing X-rays, highlight layers within the wreath-like ring cloud.

The image is teeming with specks and dots, representing stars within the cluster. Some of the dots gleam with asterisk-shaped diffraction spikes, while others are surrounded by a sloped area. Upon closer inspection, many of the specks have spiraling arms, indicating that they are, in fact, distant galaxies.



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