Star Cluster NGC 346 in Tucana | NASA Hubble & Chandra [Budget Alert]

Star Cluster NGC 346 in Tucana | NASA Hubble & Chandra [Budget Alert]

This image showcases NGC 346, a dazzling young star cluster in the Small Magellanic Cloud. The Small Magellanic Cloud is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, located 200,000 light-years away in the constellation Tucana. The Small Magellanic Cloud is less rich in elements heavier than helium—what astronomers call metals—than the Milky Way. This makes conditions in the galaxy similar to what existed in the early universe. X-rays from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory reveal output from massive stars in this cluster and diffuse emission from a supernova remnant, the glowing debris of an exploded star.

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NGC 346 is home to more than 2,500 newborn stars. The cluster’s most massive stars, many times more massive than our Sun, blaze with an intense blue light in this image. The glowing pink nebula and snakelike dark clouds are the remnant of the birthsite of the stars in the cluster.

The inhabitants of this cluster are stellar sculptors, carving out a bubble from the nebula. NGC 346’s hot, massive stars produce intense radiation and fierce stellar winds that pummel the billowing gas of their birthplace and begin to disperse the surrounding nebula.

The nebula, named N66, is the brightest example of an H II (pronounced ‘H-two’) region in the Small Magellanic Cloud. H II regions are set aglow by ultraviolet light from hot young stars like those in NGC 346. The presence of the brilliant nebula indicates the young age of the star cluster, as an H II region shines only as long as the stars that power it—a mere few million years for the massive stars pictured here.

NGC 346 is a young cluster home to thousands of newborn stars. The cluster’s most massive stars send powerful winds and produce intense radiation.

Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; IR/Optical: NASA/ESA/HST; UV: NASA/ESA/STScI/Catholic Univ of America

Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Major, and K. Arcand
Release Date: Sept. 7, 2025

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