Fact Sheet
Home of the Stars
One of the most prolific stellar nurseries in the galaxies is known as the Scorpius-Centaurus Association. It has given birth to thousands of stars over the last 15 million years, including many that have already exploded as supernovae, and thousands more are still forming. The stars are born in big clouds of gas and dust like this one, RCW49, in Centaurus. This nebula, which was photographed in infrared light by Spitzer Space Telescope, has already given birth to about 2,200 stars. The nebula is about 13,700 light-years away. [NASA/JPL/E. Churchwell (Univ. Wisconsin)]
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