Chandra Release - December 23, 2004

Visual Description: DB01-42, DB00-58 & DB00-6

These three panels contain Chandra X-ray Observatory images of different star clusters: DB01-42 (top), DB00-58 (bottom left) and DB00-6 (bottom right). The overall texture of the image resembles that of a starry night sky, with the stars appearing as small, bright dots against a glowy blue and green background.  The arrangement of the dots varies, with some sections appearing more densely packed than others.  In these three clusters of bright, young stars, blue colors denote the X-ray light, and green the radio light. All three star clusters lie in the direction of the center of the Galaxy. Like many stars in the disk of the Galaxy, they are difficult, if not impossible, to see with an optical telescope because of interstellar dust that blocks that kind of light. Two bright X-ray sources near the center of DB01-42 are probably both double star systems. In these systems, collisions between high-speed stellar winds are heating gas to temperatures of millions of degrees Celsius. Similar processes are likely producing the X-radiation from DB00-58 and DB00-6. The infrared radiation from most of the stars in all three clusters comes from their relatively cool (thousands of degrees) surfaces.