N11: Star Clouds of the LMC

Massive stars, abrasive winds, mountains of dust, and energetic light sculpt one of the largest and most picturesque regions of star formation in the Local Group of Galaxies. The Large Magellanic Cloud is visible on the upper right of many images of the home galaxy, the Milky Way. The Hubble Space Telescope took the featured image for scientific purposes. The entire N11 emission nebula is second in LMC size only to the Tarantula Nebula. Young stars are visible around the image. A recent study of variable stars in the LMC with Hubble has helped to calibrate the distance scale of the observable universe, but resulted in a slightly different scale than found using the pervasive Cosmic Microwave Background.

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What happened to Devil Tower? A leading hypothesis is that the rock monolith in Wyoming is a hardened lava plume that never reached the surface to become a volcano. The lighter rock that once surrounded the dense volcanic neck has eroded away, leaving the dramatic tower. The dense rock is known by Native Americans as Bear's Lodge and Great Gray Horn. The central band of the Milky Way is high above the sky. There are dark strands of the Pipe Nebula to the right of the tower. Green grass and trees line the foreground, while clouds overlook the tower. mountaineers are allowed to climbDevils Tower