NASA shares a dazzling photo of "heavenly fireworks" just in time for July 4th

A breathtakingly shared image on NASA's website reveals a spectacular view of the NGC 3603 nebula, home to some of the most massive stars in our galaxy. "Like a July 4th fireworks, a sparkling young star collection looks like an aerial burst," NASA officials wrote in the description of the image, captured on July 9th. . years ago with the Hubble Space Telescope.

NGC 3603 Nebula is one of the most captivating places in the Milky Way. Located 20,000 light-years from our planet, in the constellation of Carina, the nebula lies in the Carina spiral arm of the Milky Way and is one of the largest regions of the galaxy.

and December 2009 in two different spectrums, shows the giant group of huge stars that make up NGC 3603 wrapped in interstellar clouds of gas and dust.

"Appearing colorful and serene, this environment is anything but," says the US space agency.

This is because the NGC 3603 nebula is bursting with massive stars that "live fast and die young", ending with violent supernova explosions as soon as they roam all their reserves. 39; hydrogen.

Offered by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) both visible and infrared, the image shows the dazzling spectacle of the stars of the nebula, while tracing the glow of sulfur, from Hydrogen and iron inside NGC 3603.

Celestial Fireworks! ???? As a fireworks # 4thOfJuly2018 this glittering collection of stars located 20 000 light-years from Earth looks like a red, white and blue air explosion. Take a closer look: https://t.co/vxYxmiW0tO pic.twitter.com/NroJl2u1QP

– NASA (@NASA) July 3, 2018

According to the European Agency Report space, many bright stars in the nebula NGC 3603 "are hot blue stars" that "produce ultraviolet rays and strong winds", which have carved "a huge cavity in the gas and dust surrounding the cluster . "

While most of the stars in the nebula are the same age, since they were formed at the same time – about 1 or 2 million years ago, NASA notes – they differ greatly in mass and size, temperature and color. 19659003] This gives beautiful snapshots – just like the Hubble photo below, published in 2007 and covering about 17 light-years – while providing a unique insight into the lifecycle of stars.

"The course of a star's life is determined by its mass, so that a bunch of a given age will contain stars at various stages of their lives, giving the star a chance." opportunity for detailed analyzes of stellar life cycles ". In addition to giving the sensational "heavenly firework" seen above, this remarkable cluster of stars could help astronomers better understand how massive stars formed in the primitive universe.