Skip to comments.Astronomy Picture of the Day -- N11: Star Clouds of the LMC
Posted on 02/11/2013 4:53:39 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Explanation: Massive stars, abrasive winds, mountains of dust, and energetic light sculpt one of the largest and most picturesque regions of star formation in the Local Group of Galaxies. Known as N11, the region is visible on the upper right of many images of its home galaxy, the Milky Way neighbor known as the Large Magellanic Clouds (LMC). The above image was taken for scientific purposes by the Hubble Space Telescope and reprocessed for artistry by an amateur to win the Hubble's Hidden Treasures competition. Although the section imaged above is known as NGC 1763, the entire N11 emission nebula is second in LMC size only to 30 Doradus. Studying the stars in N11 has shown that it actually houses three successive generations of star formation. Compact globules of dark dust housing emerging young stars are also visible around the image.
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I wonder if they are dense at all close up?
The description is very interesting, and the pic's pretty good, too. And nice first-in post, GeronL, I couldn't even get the topic to load after I clicked post, had to go to my Pings (wipes eye) to see the link.
I think it’s an interesting question, if we tried to fly a starship through the cloud (Star Trek II style) would we just find that the particles aren’t dense enough to actually hide in? Would it just tint the sky a bit?
I think you’re probably right. If the clouds were dense enough to hide in they would be gravitationally collapsing into stars.
Because they are spreading out and not collapsing, right?
I don’t know if they’re spreading or not but I do know that compression or density waves can cause the clouds to collapse into stars.
Thanks so much, SunkenCiv!
Anyone familiar with the programs Stellarium or Celestia?
I downloaded Stellarium. But I’m too tired to figure it out.
That reminds me of Japan, and like Japan, it looks like a dragon. Cool, Mr. Civilizations!
I think I’ve used Stellarium to track a spacecraft named Desire.
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