"The legendary Pelé" gets cosmic tribute from NASA
CBSN
The death of Brazilian soccer legend Pelé on Thursday ignited a wave of mourning across the world. And for those at NASA, the 82-year-old's death even surpassed the realms of the planet.
The space agency tweeted its own tribute for "the legendary Pelé" on Thursday, sharing a mesmerizing photo of a spiral galaxy that depicts the colors of Brazil – green, yellow and blue. The image, captured by the Galaxy Evolution Explorer satellite, shows the galaxy NGC 300 which lies in the constellation Sculptor.
NGC 300, according to NASA, is about 7 million light-years away and is known for its "vigorous star formation." This particular image was captured in 2005. The blue dots in the outer arms of the galaxy's spirals are the young stars, while older stars are congregated towards the center in yellow and green colors. The small bursts of pink indicate gases being heated by "hot young stars and shocks due to winds from massive stars and supernova explosions," NASA said.
