18 Dec 2024

This new image of star cluster NGC 602, released on Dec. 17, 2024, combines data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory with a previously released image from the agency’s James Webb Space Telescope. Webb data provide the ring-like outline of the “wreath,” while X-rays from Chandra (red) show young, massive stars that are illuminating the wreath, sending high-energy light into interstellar space.

NGC 602 lies on the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud, which is one of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way, about 200,000 light-years from Earth.