Two Telescopes Combine to Probe Young 'Family' of Stars

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This Spitzer Space Telescope photograph shows the Serpens South star cluster a relatively dense group of 50 young stars 35 of which are protostars just beginning to form. Tints of green in the image represent hot hydrogen gas excited when high-speed ...
This Spitzer Space Telescope photograph shows the Serpens South star cluster – a relatively dense group of 50 young stars, 35 of which are protostars just beginning to form. Tints of green in the image represent hot hydrogen gas excited when high-speed jets of gas ejected by infant stars collide with the cool gas in the surrounding cloud. Wisps of red in the background are organic molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/L. Allen (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA) & Gould's Belt Legacy Team

A spectacular new image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope uncovers a small group of young stellar "siblings" in the southern portion of the Serpens cloud – located approximately 848 light-years away from Earth. Scientists suspect that this discovery will lead them to more clues about how these cosmic families, which contain hundreds of gravitationally bound stars, form and interact.


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