A Cosmic Heart Where New Stars Thrive

heart Cluster
More images and information
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Infrared: NASA/JPL/Caltech(WISE); Optical: M. Adler, B. Wilson;
Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare

To celebrate Valentine's Day, we are releasing a new image of the Cocoon Nebula (officially named IC 5146). This heart-shaped nebula is a region in the Milky Way galaxy where new stars are forming. X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (red, green, and blue) reveal a cluster of new stars that are just poking through the stunning nebula. Young stars, like those in the Cocoon Nebula, are very active and give off large amounts of X-rays that Chandra can detect.

The nebula itself glows from a combination of light that is emitted by the young stars as well as light that is reflected off the dust in the nebula. This composite image of the Cocoon Nebula contains an optical-light image (red, green, and blue) from astrophotographers Michael Adler and Barry Wilson, as well as infrared light data (red, yellow, and cyan) from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission.

The Cocoon Nebula is about 15 light-years across and is located about 2,650 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus.

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.