The galactic starburst region NGC 3603 (annotated)

The region around NGC 3603, a cluster of young, hot O and B-type stars still partly embedded in its natal cloud of gas and dust. A small group of nascent, very massive stars has been found to the south of the cluster centre — here indicated as "IRS9". The image was obtained with the ISAAC multi-mode instrument at the 8.2-m VLT ANTU telescope at Paranal. The orientation and the scale at the distance of NGC 3603 (22,000 light-years) are indicated.