A new captivating image of the star cluster NGC 602, located in the Small Magellanic Cloud, resembles a Christmas wreath and showcases young stars illuminating dark dust clouds. The composite image combines X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, which highlights powerful stellar winds from massive young stars in red, with infrared data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), depicted in various colors. The dark, ring-like structure seen in the JWST data represents dense clouds of dust that the bright young stars illuminate, generating high-energy light sent into space.
NGC 602, positioned about 200,000 light-years away, reflects the universe’s early conditions, as its stars contain fewer heavy elements than the Sun, providing insight into early star formation. In addition, a new version of the “Christmas Tree Cluster,” NGC 2264, has been released. This cluster, located about 2,500 light-years from Earth and made up of stars aged between one and five million years, has also been imaged with data from Chandra and optical data from astrophotographer Michael Clow. These stunning visuals not only celebrate the beauty of the cosmos but also contribute to the ongoing study of stellar life cycles.
