A Far Away Star Cluster NGC 281 JAN. 27/2018 High-mass stars are important because they are responsible for much of the energy pumped into a galaxy over its lifetime. Unfortunately, these stars aren’t understood very well because they are usually found relatively far away in places where lots of gas and dust impede our view. This star cluster (NGC 281) however, is an exception since it is far enough away from the plane of our galaxy that not a lot of dust and gas obscure its view. The high-mass

Zooming into Star Cluster RCW 38 | ESO Support FriendsofNASA.org | This zoom video starts with a wide view of the Milky Way and ends with a close-up look at the dramatic star formation region RCW 38 in the constellation of Vela (The Sails). The final view of this region was captured during testing of the HAWK-I camera with the GRAAL adaptive optics system, which is installed on the European Southern Observatory 's Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. Distance: about 5,