                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2023 February 20
       A ball of yellow stars is seen to the right of blue-glowing gas
    filaments. Other blue filaments and foreground stars cover the frame.
          Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

                    NGC 1850: Not Found in the Milky Way
    Image Credit: NASA, ESA and P. Goudfrooij (STScI); Processing: M. H.
                      Özsaraç (Türkiye Astronomi Dernegi)

   Explanation: There is nothing like this ball of stars in our Milky Way
   Galaxy. This is surprising because, at first glance, this featured
   image by the Hubble Space Telescope suggests that star cluster NGC
   1850's size and shape are reminiscent of the many ancient globular star
   clusters which roam our own Milky Way Galaxy's halo. But NGC 1850's
   stars are all too young, making it a type of star cluster with no known
   counterpart in the Milky Way. Moreover, NGC 1850 is also a double star
   cluster, with a second, compact cluster of stars visible here just to
   the right of the large cluster's center. Stars in the large cluster are
   estimated to be 50 million years young, while stars in the compact
   cluster are younger still, with an age of about 4 million years. A mere
   168,000 light-years distant, NGC 1850 is located near the outskirts of
   the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy. The glowing gas filaments across the
   image left, like supernova remnants in our own galaxy, testify to
   violent stellar explosions and indicate that short-lived massive stars
   have recently been present in the region.

                      Tomorrow's picture: double falls
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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