Using imagery generated by the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA teamed up with the European Space Agency to produce a mind-blowing video visualization of stars forming in Westerlund 2, a star cluster that is our celestial neighbor in the Milky Way Galaxy.
As the animation opens, viewers soar through the Gum 29 nebula, which surrounds young clusters of stars in the center. Viewers then whizz over pillars of interstellar gas and dust that measure more than a light year long.
"Strong winds and radiation from massive young stars destroy all but the densest nearby dust clumps, leaving these pillars in their shadows -- many pointing back toward the cluster center," NASA explains.
The stunning visualization closes with a dip into another star cluster and a final glimpse at some of the largest stars known to science.
Report a typo to the ABC13 staff