A rose blooming in space Resembling a delicate rose floating in
space, the nebula N11A is seen in a new light in a true-colour
image taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Fierce
radiation from massive stars embedded at the centre of N11A
illuminates the surrounding gas with a soft fluorescent glow.
N11A lies within a spectacular star-forming region in the Large
Magellanic Cloud, a small nearby companion galaxy to our own
Milky Way Galaxy, visible from the Southern Hemisphere. This
nebula is particularly interesting for astronomers since it is
the smallest and most compact nebula in that region and
represents the most recent massive star formation event there.
The excellent imaging power of Hubble has enabled astronomers to
see this nebula in more detail and to study the structure of the
hot gas envelope as well as the stars embedded in its centre.
Shocks and strong stellar winds from the recently born, massive
stars in the bright core of N11A have scooped out a cavity in
the gas and dust. The fierce r