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Our neighbour, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), is rich in gas and dust and hosts regions of extremely robust star formation. It contains about 700 open clusters, groups of gravitationally bound stars that all formed from the same giant molecular cloud. The clusters can contain thousands of stars, all emitting vibrant energy that lights up their surroundings. <\/p>\n
One of these clusters is\u00a0NGC 2040\u00a0in the constellation of Dorado, and the Gemini South Telescope captured its portra<\/span>it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n NGC 2040 is noteworthy because it contains so many O-type and B-type stars. They\u2019re hot, massive stars that tend to live fast and die young as explosive supernovae. The cluster contains more than a dozen of these stars. <\/p>\n There are two things at play in this image. Supernova explosions buffet the gas and dust and help shape the nebula while the young stars light it up. The explosions also create shock waves that compress the surrounding gas, leading to the formation of the next generation of stars. <\/p>\n \n