This region is currently forming new stars at a fast pace

Mar 7, 2014 14:38 GMT  ·  By

Astronomers operating the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope were recently able to image a beautiful section of the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the largest dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky Way. The area they focused the observatory on is called LH63, and it is a beautiful stellar cluster.

The entire field of view visible above represents just a small part of the LMC. The dwarf galaxy contains hundreds of such star-forming regions, areas where vast clouds of molecular gas and dust collapse under their own weight to form new stars. Since this process occurs relatively fast in astronomical terms, the stellar nurseries almost always contain star clusters.

These formations will most likely spread apart in the future. Astronomers estimate that the Sun was probably formed inside a similar stellar nursery, around 4.6 billion years ago. Since then, the star has put at least 4 light-years between itself and its closest neighbor, Proxima Centauri.

In the case of LH63, most of the stars it contains are extremely young, and most are less massive than the Sun. Very large amounts of the gas from which these objects formed is still present, since the stars are not large enough yet to push it away with intense ultraviolet emissions and stellar winds. The area containing the stellar cluster is known as emission nebula LHA 120-N 51, or N51.