Nearby Galaxy NGC 300 in Sculptor: Stars Like Grains of Sand | Hubble

Nearby Galaxy NGC 300 in Sculptor: Stars Like Grains of Sand | Hubble

In this view of the spiral galaxy NGC 300, young, blue stars are concentrated in spiral arms that sweep diagonally through the image. The yellow blobs are glowing hot gas that has been heated by radiation from the nearest young, blue stars. 

Hot, young blue stars appear in clusters that form in the galaxy's spiral arms. Ribbons of deep red stars mark the location of gauzy curtains of dust that partially hide the light of the stars behind them. Near the center of the image is the bright and compact nucleus of the galaxy where even the ACS loses the ability to separate the densely packed stars.

In this image, a dense swarm of stars, patches of dust, and a bright star cluster are visible, all located near the nucleus of the galaxy. Similar clusters are thought to be related to the formation of supermassive black holes.

What appear as individual grains of sand on a beach in this image obtained with the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope are actually myriads of stars embedded deep in the heart of the nearby galaxy NGC 300. The Hubble telescope's exquisite resolution enables it to see the stars as individual points of light, despite the fact that the galaxy is millions of light-years away. A ground-based Digitized Sky Survey image of the full field of NGC 300 is shown in the top left frame. An outline of a Hubble Heritage Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) image is marked and shown in the top right frame. A detailed blowup of this image (in the bottom frame) shows individual stars in the galaxy. A background spiral galaxy is visible in the lower right corner.

Ribbons of deep red stars mark the location of gauzy curtains of dust that partially hide the light of the stars behind them. Near the center of the image is the bright and compact nucleus of the galaxy where Hubble's instruments lose their ability to separate the densely packed stars.

Myriads of stars embedded in the heart of the nearby galaxy NGC 300 can be singled out like grains of sand on a beach in these Hubble Space Telescope images. The Hubble telescope's exquisite resolution enables it to see the stars as individual points of light, despite the fact that the galaxy is millions of light-years away. NGC 300 is a spiral galaxy similar to our own Milky Way galaxy. It is a member of a nearby group of galaxies known as the Sculptor group, named for the southern constellation where the group can be found. The distance to NGC 300 is 6.5 million light-years, making it one of the Milky Way's closer neighbors. At this distance, only the brightest stars can be picked out from ground-based images. With a resolution around ten times better than ground-based telescopes, Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) resolves many more stars in this galaxy than can be detected from the ground.

Among luminous blue specks in this image are young and massive stars called blue supergiants. They are among the brightest stars seen in spiral galaxies like NGC 300. By combining the stellar brightness with other information, such as the stellar temperature, surface gravity and mass outflow, astronomers are defining a new technique to measure distances to galaxies located millions of light-years away.

Image Credits: NASA, European Space Agency, and The Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI)
Release Dates: April 8, 2004-Sept. 30, 2008

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