1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,000 The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a spectacular image of NGC 3603, 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:11,000 a giant nebula hosting one of the most prominent massive young clusters in the Milky Way. 3 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:16,000 This is a splendid location for continuing our detailed studies of stellar birth in star forming regions. 4 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:37,000 This is the Hubblecast! 5 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:47,000 News and Images from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Travelling through time and space with our host Doctor J a.k.a. Dr Joe Liske. 6 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:50,000 Welcome to the Hubblecast! 7 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:59,000 Today we are going to travel to the heart of a massive cluster of young stars that lies deep inside a vast nebula of gas and dust. 8 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:09,000 The nebula is called NGC 3603 and it is located about 20,000 light-years from Earth in the Carina spiral arm of our own Milky Way galaxy. 9 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:15,000 Now it turns out that the nebula is actually the nursery of the star cluster. 10 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:24,000 It is thought that the nebula contains hundreds of thousands of solar masses worth of gas, and only about one million years ago, some of that gas collapsed in on itself 11 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:31,000 and formed probably all of the stars in the cluster at more or less the same time in a massive burst of star formation. 12 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:39,000 Today we see the result as a glittering collection of stars surrounded by a dense cloud of hydrogen gas. 13 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:47,000 In this new detailed image from Hubble we can see thousands of young blue stars sparkling against their maternal nebula. 14 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:53,000 But this is not as tranquil a place as you might think. Some of the action is still going on. 15 00:01:53,000 --> 00:02:03,000 The strong ultraviolet radiation and the winds from these newborn stars are shaping and sculpting the surrounding gas, carving out a huge cavity into the nebula. 16 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:10,000 A team of astronomers was able to use the Hubble Space Telescope to peer into the heart of a star forming region 17 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:18,000 which was first observed in 1834 by Sir John Herschel, the son of the world-renowned astronomer Sir William Herschel. 18 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:25,000 They were able to make detailed observations of stars whose masses differ but whose ages are similar. 19 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:31,000 Because of this fact astronomers were able to study a wide range of stars at different points in their respective life cycles 20 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:34,000 and make comparisons with other similar star clusters. 21 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:01,000 The new Hubble image is full of interesting objects for astronomers to study. 22 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:10,000 Here at the top right of the image we see a handful of Bok Globules. 23 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:15,000 These objects were first observed in the 1940s by astronomer Bart Bok. 24 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:25,000 They are some of the coldest objects in the Universe and they are dense clouds of gas and dust (of around ten to fifty solar masses) and they are collapsing to form new stars. 25 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:39,000 Around the cluster near the densest part of the nebula we see these huge pillars of gas pointing away from cluster’s core. 26 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:46,000 These were shaped by the massive young cluster’s stars and eventually they will be dispersed into interstellar space. 27 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:59,000 One of the most interesting objects in the image is this seemingly innocuous bright star. 28 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:06,000 The star is designated Sher 25 and it is actually a blue supergiant nearing the very end of its life. 29 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:20,000 Astronomers think that in the not too distant future Sher 25 will explode as a tremendous event like supernova 1987A which has been observed by Hubble on many occasions. 30 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:25,000 In doing so it will seed space with the heavy elements necessary for planet formation. 31 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:30,000 Perhaps it will even trigger a new wave of star formation in a nearby nebula. 32 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:39,000 For now though astronomers using the Hubble are interested in the stars within the massive young cluster at the heart of NGC 3603. 33 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:45,000 Several stars at the cluster’s core have caused astronomers to be deceived. 34 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:52,000 The huge stars in the innermost regions of the cluster appeared to be far more massive than our current theoretical limits dictate. 35 00:04:52,000 --> 00:05:01,000 Nothing escapes the sharp eye of Hubble though as it was able to show that these stars are in fact the light from several stars blended together. 36 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:06,000 They appear as one star but are actually composed of two or even three components. 37 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:16,000 This agrees well with previous observations of these apparently ‘heavyweight’ objects as composed of several stars of around 80 to 120 solar masses each. 38 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:20,000 The new Hubble image is full of amazing detail. 39 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:24,000 Not only are we seeing a whole cluster of stars just one million years after its birth, 40 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:32,000 but there is also one star that is about to go supernova in a gigantic explosion that will be seen across large parts of the Galaxy. 41 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:40,000 In NGC 3603 we are literally seeing the birth and death of stars right before our eyes. 42 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:46,000 So, this apparently picturesque stellar nursery is in fact the site of some pretty extreme astronomy! 43 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:49,000 This is Dr J signing off for the Hubblecast. 44 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:53,000 Once again nature has surprised us beyond our wildest imagination … 45 00:05:55,000 --> 00:06:00,000 Hubblecast is produced by ESA/Hubble at the European Southern Observatory in Germany. 46 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:05,000 The Hubble mission is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency.