October 24, 2012
On the day you were born, the universe did what it has always done best: transformed chaos into beauty.
NGC 206 and the Star Clouds of Andromeda
Birthday · October 24, 2012
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APOD published October 24, 2012. Credit: Fera Photography. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
The large stellar association cataloged as NGC 206 is nestled within the dusty arms of neighboring spiral galaxy Andromeda (M31), 2.5 million light-years distant. Seen near the center of this gorgeous close-up of the southwestern extent of Andromeda's disk, the bright, blue stars of NGC 206 indicate its youth. Its youngest massive stars are less than 10 million years old. Much larger than the clusters of young stars in the disk of our Milky Way galaxy known as open or galactic clusters, NGC 206 spans about 4,000 light-years. That's comparable in size to the giant stellar nurseries NGC 604 in nearby spiral M33 and the Tarantula Nebula, in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
Image credit: Fera Photography