A Remarkable New Image from Hubble Unveils a Stellar Nursery from the Early Universe

The Hubble Space Telescope has demonstrated its lasting significance once more with an awe-inspiring new image of a lively star cluster, even as the James Webb Space Telescope takes the spotlight in contemporary astronomy.

This recent capture provides the most intricate view so far of NGC 346, a dynamic star-forming area located in the Small Magellanic Cloud — a dwarf galaxy orbiting the Milky Way roughly 210,000 light-years away in the Tucana constellation. What sets this image apart is its combination of data from three distinct wavelengths of light — infrared, visible, and ultraviolet — to produce a vivid and comprehensive depiction of stellar birth and development.

NGC 346 is home to more than 2,500 young, blue stars, and the new image showcases them in remarkable detail. This area holds particular interest for astronomers because the Small Magellanic Cloud has significantly fewer heavy elements compared to our own galaxy. It is primarily composed of hydrogen and helium, making it a close simulation of the conditions in the early universe. According to the European Space Agency (ESA), which collaborates with NASA in managing Hubble, this makes the galaxy an exceptional laboratory for examining how stars may have originated billions of years ago.

The vibrant pink nebula surrounding the star cluster consists of hydrogen gas illuminated by the ultraviolet radiation from these hot, young stars. These bright zones are transient, lasting only as long as the massive stars themselves — typically just a few million years, a brief moment in the universe’s 13.8 billion-year history.

The dark, snake-like clouds of dust visible in the image are remnants of the original material from which the stars emerged. These dense clouds have not yet been blown away by the strong radiation and vigorous stellar winds — streams of charged particles — emitted by the massive stars. These winds create empty spaces in the surrounding gas, sculpting the structure of the nebula.

Stars are often considered cosmic foundries, generating heavier elements such as carbon, calcium, and iron within their cores. When they explode as supernovae, they disperse these elements into the cosmos, enriching the interstellar medium and facilitating the emergence of new stars and planets. Since the earliest stars formed from the primordial hydrogen and helium left over from the Big Bang, investigating clusters like NGC 346 aids scientists in understanding the evolution of chemical complexity in the universe.

In addition to Hubble’s observations, astronomers recently employed the James Webb Space Telescope to investigate 10 stars within NGC 346. Surprisingly, they discovered that these stars still possessed their protoplanetary disks — the gas and dust clouds that can lead to planet formation — even at relatively advanced ages. This contradicts earlier beliefs that such disks would dissipate within just two or three million years.

“This also implies that planets have more time to form and grow around these stars,” remarked Guido De Marchi, lead author of the study.

Together, Hubble and Webb provide complementary insights into the life cycles of stars and the conditions of the early universe. This latest image from Hubble not only highlights the telescope’s enduring prowess but also enriches our understanding of the origins of stars and planets.