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A Surprisingly Bright Superbubble
This composite image shows a superbubble in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way located about 160,000 light years from Earth. Many new stars, some of them very massive, are forming in the star cluster 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 (blue) show hot regions created by these winds and shocks, while infrared data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope (red) outline where the dust and cooler gas are found. The optical light from the 2.2-m Max-Planck-ESO telescope (yellow) in Chile shows where ultraviolet radiation from hot, young stars is causing gas in the nebula to glow.
[Image: NASA/JPL/ESO; Caption: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics]](http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/683259main_chandra08312012_full.jpg)
A Surprisingly Bright Superbubble
This composite image shows a superbubble in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way located about 160,000 light years from Earth. Many new stars, some of them very massive, are forming in the star cluster 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 (blue) show hot regions created by these winds and shocks, while infrared data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope (red) outline where the dust and cooler gas are found. The optical light from the 2.2-m Max-Planck-ESO telescope (yellow) in Chile shows where ultraviolet radiation from hot, young stars is causing gas in the nebula to glow.
[Image: NASA/JPL/ESO; Caption: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics]
Exeter University artist-in-residence Pery Burge uses ink, water, soap films, and other fluids to create her spectacular “artistic flow visualization”. Looking closely, one sees the influence of bubbles, vortices, diffusion, and many fluid instabilities, all combined to create psychedelic and dream-like landscapes. For more on her work and additional galleries, see her website Chronoscapes. (Photo credit: Pery Burge)
