Taking up the central area of the image is the colorful supernova remnant DEM L 190, which is made of intricate tendrils of cosmic material glowing in shades of purple, yellow, orange, and blue. The edges of the image are black and scattered with red and purple-ish stars.
Thousands of bright stars shine against black space, more tightly condensed near the image’s center. The stars glint in shades of white, blue, and red, and diffraction spikes are visible around the foreground stars.
The giant nebula NGC 3603 is a prominent star-forming region in the Carina spiral arm of our galaxy, about 20,000 light-years away. Within its core is nestled a stellar "jewel box" of thousands of sparkling young stars, one of the most massive young star clusters in the Milky Way Galaxy.
The cluster is surrounded by purple clouds of interstellar gas and dust — the raw material for new star formation. This bubble provides an unobstructed view of the cluster and reveals stages in the life cycle of stars.
A prominent, eight-pointed star shines in bright white at the center of this image. A clumpy cloud of material surrounds this central star, with more material above and below than on the sides, in some places allowing background stars to peek through. The cloud material is a dark yellow closer to the star, and turns a pinkish purple at its outer edges. Combined together, the central star and its cloud resemble the delicate petals of a cherry blossom. The black background features many smaller white stars scattered throughout.
space fireworks to celebrate the new year 🎆
