NGC
3603 is a bustling region of star birth in the Carina spiral arm of the Milky
Way galaxy, about 20,000 light years from Earth. For the first time, this
Chandra image resolves the multitude of individual X-ray sources in this
star-forming region. (The intensity of the X-rays observed by Chandra are
depicted by the various colors in this image. Green represents lower intensity
sources, while purple and red indicate increasing X-ray intensity.)
Specifically, the Chandra image reveals dozens of extremely massive stars born
in a burst of star formation about two million years ago.
This region's activities may be indicative of what is happening in other distant
"starburst" galaxies (bright galaxies flush with new stars). In the
case of NGC 3603, scientists now believe that these X rays are emitted from
massive stars and stellar winds, since the stars are too young to have produced
supernovae or have evolved into neutron stars. The Chandra observations of NGC
3603 may provide new clues about X-ray emission in starburst galaxies as well as
star formation itself.
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