Trigger-Happy Star Formation - Cepheus B: A cloud of molecular hydrogen in the Milky Way about 2,400 light years from Earth.

Trigger-Happy Star Formation - Cepheus B: A cloud of molecular hydrogen in the Milky Way about 2,400 light years from Earth.

Description: This composite image of X-rays from Chandra (violet) and infrared data from Spitzer (red, green, and blue) reveals a beautiful scene of star formation within our Galaxy. There are hundreds of very young stars inside and around the cloud -- ranging from a few millions years old outside the cloud to less than a million in the interior -- making it an important testing ground for star formation. By combining the data from these two observatories, researchers have shown that radiation from massive stars may trigger the formation of many more stars than previously thought. Creator/Photographer: Chandra X-ray Observatory NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. The mirrors on Chandra are the largest, most precisely shaped and aligned, and smoothest mirrors ever constructed. Chandra is helping scientists better understand the hot, turbulent regions of space and answer fundamental questions about origin, evolution, and destiny of the Universe. The images Chandra makes are twenty-five times sharper than the best previous X-ray telescope. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Medium: Chandra telescope x-ray Date: 2009 Persistent URL: http://photography.si.edu/SearchImage.aspx?id=5947 Repository: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Gift line: X-ray (NASA/CXC/PSU/K. Getman et al.); IR (NASA/JPL-Caltech/CfA/J. Wang et al.) Accession number: cepb_432 Image by Smithsonian Institution