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The UV SMC from UIT

The UV SMC from UIT

Credit & copyright: Credit: R.Cornett et al. ( GSFC/LASP ), UIT Team , NASA

Translated from the “acronese” the title reads - The U ltra V iolet S mall M agellanic C loud from the U ltraviolet I maging T elescope. FYI, the four ultraviolet images used in this mosaic of the nearby irregular galaxy known as the Small Magellanic Cloud were taken by the UIT instrument during the Astro-1 and Astro-2 shuttle missions in 1990 and 1995. Each separate image field is slightly wider than the apparent size of the full moon. These ultraviolet pictures , shown in false color, must be taken above the Earth's absorbing atmosphere. They highlight concentrations of hot, newly formed stars only a few millions of years old, and reveal the progress of recent star formation in the SMC .

View the original NASA APOD

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