This composite image from NASA's Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes shows the open clusters NGC 460 and NGC 456 in the Small Magellanic Cloud. (Image credit: NASA, ESA, and K. Lindberg (Johns Hopkins University); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/The Catholic University of America))
The Hubble Space Telescope and NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have teamed up to create a stunning new image of two open star clusters in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy that orbits the Milky Way.
This stunning 527-megapixel image is the result of 12 overlapping observations in visible light (with the Hubble Space Telescope) and infrared light (with the JWST). It shows two open clusters, NGC 460 and NGC 456, which contain thousands of stars at various stages of their development. An 87-megapixel version of the image can be downloaded from NASA.
Star clusters are groups of stars that have a common origin, formed at about the same time and place, and are weakly held together by gravity. The stars in NGC 460 and NGC 456 are no more than 10 million years old—a stark contrast to the Sun, which is only 4.5 billion years old.
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