Cosmic fireworks from a cluster of new stars

NGC 133 is a star cluster located about 780 light years from Earth populated with many young stars (shown in pink) that are less than two million years old. Above it is the Serpens cloud, a similar cluster of young stars about 1100 light years away.

The above image is a composite, combining X-rays from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory which reveal the young pink stars, along with infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope in red. Optical data from the Digitised Sky Survey and the National Optical Astronomical Observatories’ Mayall four-metre telescope on Kitt Peak in Arizona (red, green and blue) has also been included.

The Chandra data revealed 95 young stars glowing in X-ray light, 41 of which had not been previously identified.