Photo # 1 (Mar 2009)

NGC 604: X-RAYS FROM A GIANT STELLAR NURSERY

The act of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things.
                         - Henry Ward Beecher

Credit: X-ray: NASA / CXC / R. Tuellmann (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA) et al.;
Optical: NASA/AURA/STScI

Some 3 million light-years distant in nearby spiral galaxy M33, giant stellar nursery NGC 604 is about 1,300 light-years across, or nearly 100 times the size of the Orion Nebula. In fact, among the star forming regions within the Local Group of galaxies, NGC 604 is second in size only to 30 Doradus, also known as the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud. This space-age color composite of X-ray data (in blue hues) from the Chandra Observatory, and Hubble optical data shows that NGC 604's cavernous bubbles and cavities are filled with a hot, tenuous, X-ray emitting gas. Intriguingly, NGC 604 itself is divided by a wall of relatively cool gas. On the western (right) side of the nebula, measurements indicate that material is likely heated to X-ray temperatures by the energetic winds from a cluster of about 200 young, massive stars. On the eastern side the X-ray filled cavities seem to be older, suggesting supernova explosions from the end of massive star evolution contribute to their formation.

The countless stars and galaxies we can see in the heavens with increasingly powerful telescopes promise to keep us enriched with ever new wonders of discoveries, as well as wonderment at the variations on the themes of beauty in these creations.

I often ponder the seemingly infinite variations in human artistic creativity. Just when I think I've seen it all, some creative genius comes up with yet a new approach to viewing the world that enriches my senses and inspires me - to know that creativity is an endless unfolding of collective consciousness. This leaves me hopeful that creativity may be an inherent aspect of the universe, and that if humans do destroy all life on our beautiful planet, there are still infinite possibilities for generation of life in other forms - on Gaia and elsewhere in the universe.
                               - Daniel Benor, MD