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ESA - Top Multimedia News

The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
ESA Top Multimedia
ESA Top Multimedia

ESA Top Multimedia

April 14th, 2025 10:00:00 EDT -0400 Webb brings dying star's energetic display into full focus
Planetary Nebula NGC 1514 (MIRI image)
April 14th, 2025 03:39:00 EDT -0400 VR training in LUNA
ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer tests a VR headset while wearing the ATLAS analogue suit inside the LUNA facility.
April 11th, 2025 04:12:00 EDT -0400 Swan song for stars and cameras
Swan song for stars and cameras
April 11th, 2025 04:00:00 EDT -0400 Earth from Space: Great Barrier Reef, Australia
This Copernicus Sentinel-2 image shows part of one of the world’s natural wonders – the Great Barrier Reef in the Coral Sea off the east coast of Queensland, Australia.
April 9th, 2025 11:00:00 EDT -0400 Fuelling Biomass
Fuelling Biomass
April 10th, 2025 07:11:00 EDT -0400 Space Rider's ALEK in LEAF
Space Rider's ALEK in LEAF
April 9th, 2025 08:10:00 EDT -0400 New ESA invention tested in a chamber of no echoes
New ESA invention tested in a chamber of no echoes
April 9th, 2025 06:00:00 EDT -0400 A broader view of Acheron Fossae
A broader view of Acheron Fossae
April 9th, 2025 04:59:00 EDT -0400 P160C solid-propellant rocket motor rolls out to its test stand
P160C solid-propellant rocket motor rolls out to its test stand
April 8th, 2025 09:31:00 EDT -0400 MetOp-SG-A1 and Sentinel-5 standing proud
MetOp-SG-A1 and Sentinel-5 standing proud
April 8th, 2025 04:00:00 EDT -0400 Smile meets Maxwell
Smile meets Maxwell
April 8th, 2025 02:00:00 EDT -0400 Moon tools to the test at LUNA
Moon tools to the test at LUNA
April 7th, 2025 11:47:00 EDT -0400 Hubble helps determine Uranus' rotation rate with unprecedented precision
Hubble helps determine Uranus' rotation rate with unprecedented precision
April 4th, 2025 04:00:00 EDT -0400 Hubble spots stellar sculptors at work in a nearby galaxy

This new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope showcases NGC 346, a dazzling young star cluster in the Small Magellanic Cloud. The Small Magellanic Cloud is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, located 210 000 light-years away in the constellation Tucana. The Small Magellanic Cloud is less rich in elements heavier than helium — what astronomers call metals — than the Milky Way. This makes conditions in the galaxy similar to what existed in the early Universe.

Although several images of NGC 346 have been released previously, this view includes new data and is the first to combine Hubble observations made at infrared, optical, and ultraviolet wavelengths into an intricately detailed view of this vibrant star-forming factory.

NGC 346 is home to more than 2500 newborn stars. The cluster’s most massive stars, which are many times more massive than our Sun, blaze with an intense blue light in this image. The glowing pink nebula and snakelike dark clouds are the remnant of the birthplace of the stars in the cluster.

The inhabitants of this cluster are stellar sculptors, carving out a bubble from the nebula. NGC 346’s hot, massive stars produce intense radiation and fierce stellar winds that pummel the billowing gas of their birthplace and begin to disperse the surrounding nebula.

The nebula, named N66, is the brightest example of an H II (pronounced ‘H-two’) region in the Small Magellanic Cloud. H II regions are set aglow by ultraviolet light from hot young stars like those in NGC 346. The presence of the brilliant nebula indicates the young age of the star cluster, as an H II region shines only as long as the stars that power it — a mere few million years for the massive stars pictured here.

[Image description: A star cluster within a nebula. The background is filled with thin, pale blue clouds. Parts are thicker and pinker in colour. The cluster is made up of bright blue stars that illuminate the nebula around them. Large arcs of dense dust curve around, before and behind the clustered stars, pressed together by the stars’ radiation. Behind the clouds of the nebula can be seen large numbers of orange stars.]

April 4th, 2025 04:01:00 EDT -0400 A galaxy that gives great feedback
A galaxy that gives great feedback