NGC 346
A young, massive star cluster located within the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), approximately 210,000 light-years from Earth. NGC 346 is the most active star-forming region in the SMC, hosting thousands of young stars and embedded within the nebula N66.
Source: science.nasa.gov
APODs including "NGC 346"
NGC 346 in the Small Magellanic Cloud
18/01/2005
A satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is a wonder of the southern sky, a mere 210,000 light-years distant in the constellation Tucana. Found among the SMC's clusters and nebulae NGC 346 is a star forming region about 200 light-years across, pictured above by the Hubble Space Telescope. Exploring NGC 346, astronomers have identified a population of embryonic stars strung along the dark, intersecting dust lanes visible here on the right. Still collapsing within their natal clouds, the stellar infants' light is reddened by the intervening dust. A small, irregular galaxy, the SMC itself represents a type of galaxy more common in the early Universe. But these small galaxies are thought to be a building blocks for the larger galaxies present today. Within the SMC, stellar nurseries like NGC 346 are also thought to be similar to those found in the early Universe.