File:Stars Brewing in Cygnus X.jpg

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Summary

Description
English: A bubbling cauldron of star birth is highlighted in this new image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Infrared light that we can't see with our eyes has been color-coded, such that the shortest wavelengths are shown in blue and the longest in red. The middle wavelength range is green.

Massive stars have blown bubbles, or cavities, in the dust and gas -- a violent process that triggers both the death and birth of stars. The brightest, yellow-white regions are warm centers of star formation. The green shows tendrils of dust, and red indicates other types of dust that may be cooler, in addition to ionized gas from nearby massive stars. Cygnus X is about 4,500 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus, or the Swan.

Blue represents light at 3.6 microns: 4.5-micron light is blue-green; 8.0-micron light is green; and 24-micron light is red. These data were taken before the Spitzer mission ran out of its coolant in 2009, and began its "warm" mission.
Date
Source NASA JPL
Author NASA/JPL-Caltech/Harvard-Smithsonian CfA

Observers: Joseph L. Hora (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), Rob Gutermuth (Smith College), Kathleen Kraemer (Boston College), Don Mizuno (Boston College), Sean Carey (Spitzer Science Center), Sylvain Bontemps (Observatoire de Bordeaux), S. Thomas Megeath (University of Toledo), Nicola Schneider (CEA/Saclay), Frederique Motte (CEA/Saclay), Howard A. Smith (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), Eric Keto (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), Lori E. Allen (NOAO), Joseph Adams (Cornell University), Robert Simon (University of Cologne), Stephan Price (Boston College), Giovanni G. Fazio (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), Xavier Koenig (NASA/GSFC)

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Public domain This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy.)
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10 January 2012

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current05:31, 20 January 20128,800 × 8,000 (27.07 MB)Originalwana{{Information |Description ={{en|1=A bubbling cauldron of star birth is highlighted in this new image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Infrared light that we can't see with our eyes has been color-coded, such that the shortes

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