N11: Star Clouds of the
LMC
From NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the
Day
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 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.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, J.
Lake (Pomfret School
