14 DAY TRIAL // Using the most complex infrared telescope ever deployed to space – the Herschel Space Observatory – experts at the European Space Agency (ESA) have recently snapped an amazing image of the stellar nursery Cygnus-X. The structure is located around 4,500 light-years away, in the Cygnus constellation.
According to experts, this region of space contains massive reserves of molecular hydrogen gas, which enables it to produce new stars at a frantic pace. The brightest areas in the image above are actually agglomerations of newly-formed stars.
Numerous filaments transporting huge volumes of gas can be seen spread throughout the entire stellar nursery. When they meet up, they create huge gas knots, where blue stars are formed at even higher rates than in other sectors of the gigantic cosmic structure.
“The image combines data acquired with the PACS instrument at 70 microns and 160 microns and with the SPIRE instrument at 250 microns,” ESA experts say in a press release.