The Heart in NGC 346

Looking toward star cluster NGC 346 in our neighboring galaxy the Small
Magellanic Cloud, astronomers have noted this heart shaped cloud of hot,
x-ray emitting gas in the cluster's central region. The false-color Chandra
Observatory x-ray image also shows a strong x-ray source just above the heart-shaped
cloud which corresponds to HD 5980, a remarkable, massive binary star system
that lies within the cluster. HD 5980 has been known to undergo dramatic brightness
variations, in 1994 briefly outshining all other stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud,
and has been likened to the luminous eruptive variable star Eta Carinae in our
own Milky Way galaxy. At about 100 light-years across, NGC 346's heart-shaped
cloud is probably the result of an ancient supernova explosion. Alternatively
it may have been produced during past eruptions from the HD 5980 system,
analogous to the nebula associated with Eta Carinae.