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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.
Credit:
NASA,
ESA,
J. Lake
(Pomfret School
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