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Star-forming region NGC 346

This new portrait of the bright star-forming region NGC 346, in which different wavelengths of light swirl together like watercolours, reveals new information about how stars form. NGC 346 is located 210,000 light-years away in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a neighbouring dwarf galaxy of the Milky Way. The image is based on data from ESA XMM-Newton (X-rays; blue), ESO's New Technology Telescope (visible light; green), and NASA's Spitzer (infrared; red). The infrared light shows cold dust, while the visible light denotes glowing gas, and the X-rays represent very hot gas. Ordinary stars appear as blue spots with white centres, while young stars enshrouded in dust appear as red spots with white centres.

Credit:

ESO/ESA/ JPL-Caltech/NASA/ D. Gouliermis (MPIA) et al.

About the Image

Id:eso0834a
Type:Observation
Release date:8 October 2008
Related releases:eso0834
Size:2106 x 1989 px

About the Object

Name:NGC 346
Type:Local Universe : Nebula : Type : Star Formation
Distance:200000 light years
Constellation:Tucana
Category:Nebulae

Image Formats

Large JPEG
1.0 MB
Screensize JPEG
256.5 KB

Wallpapers

1024x768
276.8 KB
1280x1024
416.8 KB
1600x1200
559.1 KB
1920x1200
627.6 KB
2048x1536
832.3 KB

Coordinates

Position (RA):0 59 17.90
Position (Dec):-72° 10' 47.98"
Field of view:6.99 x 6.60 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 8.3° right of vertical

Colours & filters

BandWavelengthTelescope
X-ray
Soft X-ray
0.00059 nmESA XMM-Newton
EPIC
Optical
V
New Technology Telescope
EFOSC2
Infrared
Mid-IR
8.0 μm Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC (Spitzer)