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II Zw 40, John Bozeman

II Zw 40

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II Zw 40, John Bozeman

II Zw 40

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Description

The enigmatic nearby blue compact dwarf galaxy II Zw 40 hosts a nuclear super star cluster with a luminosity 10 times that of 30 Doradus, the most powerful giant HII region in the Local Group. The super star cluster has been suggested to be the ionizing source of a ”supernebula”. It lies 33 million light-years away – and creates enormous amounts of dust. We know our Milky Way and other galaxies must contain gas and dust; the dark rift in the starry band of the Milky Way is due to dust. Long-standing astronomical theories say that stars produce dust by expelling the chemical elements fused deep within their interiors, thus enriching their host galaxies in elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. These heavier elements make up planets like Earth, and living things like human beings.

Data from the Hubble Space Telescope MAST Portal. Release date:     2004-11-26

Camera: ACS

Color Mapped:

Red-F814W
Green-F658N
Blue-F555W

Processed with FITS Liberator, PixInsight and Photoshop 2023.

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Histogram

II Zw 40, John Bozeman