Spectacular Mosaic of Star Cluster and Wolf-Rayet Stars Glow Red in New Image

Astronomers have captured a spectacular mosaic of images of NGC 3603, a very bright star cluster famed for having the highest concentration of massive stars that have been discovered in our galaxy thus far. The new picture reveals a bit more about Wolf-Rayet stars, an advanced stage of stellar evolution.

The Wolf-Rayet stars in question lie at the center of NGC 3603 in a Wolf-Rayet multiple star system, known as HD 97950. These stars start off with around 20 times the mass of our sun. Despite this mass, though, Wolf-Rayet stars shed a considerable amount of their matter due to intense stellar winds, which blast material off of the star's surface and into space at several million kilometers per hour.

You can see from this new image that the area is a region of very active star formation. While stars are born in dark and dusty regions of space where they're largely hidden from view, they gradually begin to shine and clear away their surrounding cocoons of material, becoming visible and creating glowing clouds known as HII regions. These HII regions shine due to the interactions of ultraviolet radiation given off by the hot young stars with the hydrogen gas clouds.

To the right of the image, you can see NGC 3576, which lies in the Carina-Sagittarius spiral arm of the Milky Way. Only located about 9000 light-years from Earth, it appears next to NGC 3603 in the sky. It's notable for the two huge curved objects, resembling the curled horns of the ram. These filaments are the result of stellar winds from the hot, young stars within the central regions of the nebula.

The new image shows researchers a new glimpse of this star cluster and its surrounding features. By mapping regions of space, astronomers can better understand how these systems interact with one another and can learn a bit more about our galaxy and the universe.

Want to see more images? You can check them out here.