NGC 6357 is a gigantic cloud of interstellar gas and dust, made up of copious amounts of hydrogen, which makes it the perfect spot for star formation to take place. The nebula sits 8,000 light years away from Earth in the constellation Scorpius. The nebula is home to three popular know star clusters called G353.1 + 0.36, G353.2 + 0.7 and Pismis 24. Both star clusters, G353.1+0.36 and G353.2+0.7 hold around 1,600 stars. Pismis 24 is the third star cluster which contains various massive stars such as Pismis 24-1, which is estimated to be 300 times bigger than our own Sun and can be seen in the image above, near the center of the nebula.
The image above was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.
No comments:
Post a Comment