A Magellanic Starfield
Explanation:
Stars of many types and colors are visible in
this
Hubble Space Telescope close-up of a starfield in the
Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC).
Over 10,000 stars
are visible -- the brightest of which are
giant stars.
Were our
Sun at the distance of these
stars,
about 170,000 light-years, it would hardly be discernable.
By contrast, only a few thousand individual
stars can be seen in the night sky with the unaided eye,
and many of these lie within only a few hundred light-years.
So typically, the light we see from
nearby stars
left during the age of our great-grand-parents,
while light from
LMC stars started its
journey well
before the dawn of
recorded human history.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
