Nebula NGC 2020: A Stellar Nursery in Neighboring LMC Galaxy | Hubble

Nebula NGC 2020: A Stellar Nursery in Neighboring LMC Galaxy | Hubble

This panorama features the nebula NGC 2020 in the constellation Dorado. It forms part of a vast star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, approximately 163,000 light-years away. NGC 2020 is an HII Region surrounding the Wolf-Rayet star BAT99-59. HII regions are vast areas of ionized hydrogen in space, crucial for star formation and the study of the universe. 

Wolf–Rayet stars, often abbreviated as WR stars, are a rare heterogeneous set of stars with unusual spectra showing prominent broad emission lines of ionized helium and highly ionized nitrogen or carbon. The spectra indicate very high surface enhancement of heavy elements, depletion of hydrogen, and strong stellar winds. The surface temperatures of known Wolf–Rayet stars range from 20,000 K to around 210,000 K, hotter than almost all other kinds of stars.

Image Processor Judy Schmidt: "My own processing of the recent Hubble anniversary image of NGC2020. FITS mosaic was assembled by the OPO team at STScI. Tried to keep the brightness and saturation to a moderate level to keep it easy on the eyes."

Image Credit: NASA, European Space Agency, and the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)

Image Processing: Judy Schmidt
Release Date: July 18, 2019

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Stars #Nebulae #Nebula #NGC2020 #WolfRayetStar #BAT9959 #Dorado #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #CitizenScience #JudySchmidt #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education