NGC 602 and Beyond
From NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the
Day
Near the outskirts of
the Small Magellanic
Cloud, a satellite galaxy some 200 thousand light-years distant, lies 5
million year young star
cluster NGC 602.
Surrounded by natal gas
and dust, NGC 602 is
featured in this stunning
Hubble image of the region. Fantastic ridges and
swept back shapes strongly suggest that energetic radiation and shock waves
from NGC 602's massive young stars have eroded the dusty material and triggered
a progression
of star formation moving away from the cluster's center.
At the estimated
distance of the Small Magellanic Cloud, the picture spans about 200
light-years, but a tantalizing assortment
of background galaxies are also visible in the sharp Hubble view. The background
galaxies are hundreds of millions of light-years or more beyond NGC
602.
