A recent image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope provides a detailed view of the NGC 346 star cluster, showcasing the enduring capabilities of the observatory during the era dominated by the James Webb Space Telescope. The image reveals NGC 346, a stellar nursery situated within the Small Magellanic Cloud—a dwarf galaxy orbiting the Milky Way at a distance of approximately 210,000 light-years in the constellation Tucana. This marks the first time data from infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light wavelengths have been combined into a single image, offering a striking depiction of star formation and its impact on the surrounding space.
The glow from this cluster of newborn stars, described as a “cradle” for young stars, provides astronomers with insights into what the universe may have resembled in its earlier stages. According to the European Space Agency, the Small Magellanic Cloud lacks elements heavier than helium, mirroring conditions believed to have existed in the early universe.
The Hubble image, showing over 2,500 young, blue stars, highlights the galaxy’s simplicity in terms of its chemical composition, mostly comprising hydrogen and helium. Scientists utilize this as a model for understanding star formation from millions of years ago. Stars act as element factories, producing substances like carbon through nuclear fusion. When stars explode as supernovae, they disperse heavier elements such as calcium and iron across interstellar space, contributing to the formation of new stars and planets.
It is theorized that the universe’s chemical diversity evolved over time from this initial abundance of lighter elements, with the earliest stars being primarily made of hydrogen and helium from the Big Bang. The surrounding nebula, a glowing pink cloud of hydrogen gas, is illuminated by ultraviolet light from hot, young stars, though these bright regions are short-lived, existing only as long as the massive stars that power them.
The original star-forming material persists as dark clouds of thick dust in the image. Intense radiation and stellar winds from massive stars—much larger than the Sun—clear these areas, creating empty space bubbles. Scientists have also utilized the James Webb Space Telescope to examine ten stars within the same cluster, finding that they retained substantial disks of gas and dust capable of eventually forming planets. This discovery challenges previous assumptions that such disks would dissipate quickly, giving planets more time to form around these stars, according to study leader Guido De Marchi.
