Fact Sheet
Cool Galaxy
Knots and filaments of gas and dust are giving birth to new stars in this busy region of the Milky Way, which is in the Southern Cross, hundreds of light-years from Earth. Europe's Herschel space observatory snapped this infrared image on September 3, shortly after it completed its orbital checkout. Although the image is colored in shades of red, yellow, and white, this region is actually fairly cold. Warmer regions glow more brightly. [ESA/PACS Consortium]
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