NGC 6357: Stellar Wonderland
Image Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/PSU/L. Townsley et al; Optical: UKIRT; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Explanation: For reasons unknown, NGC 6357 is forming some of the most massive stars ever discovered.
This complex wonderland of star formation consists of numerous filaments of dust and gas surrounding huge cavities of
massive star clusters. The intricate patterns are caused by complex interactions between interstellar
winds, radiation pressures, magnetic fields, and gravity. The
featured image includes not only visible light taken by the
UKIRT Telescope in Hawaii (blue) as part of the
SuperCosmos Sky Surveys, but infrared light from
NASA's orbiting
Spitzer Space Telescope (orange) and
X-ray light from
NASA's orbiting
Chandra X-ray Observatory (pink).
NGC 6357 spans about 100 light years and lies about 5,500 light years away toward the
constellation of the Scorpion. Within 10 million years, the most massive stars currently seen in NGC 6357
will have exploded.
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