Chandra Release - September 27, 2006

Visual Description: NGC 3576

The X-ray image of the star formation region NGC 3576 displays a vibrant cluster of bright stars, like a heavy bejeweled necklace surrounded by other loose gemstones tossed across a table. The stars are embedded in a cloud of gas, which is illuminated by the intense radiation emitted by the young stars. The overall color scheme of the image is dominated by shades of red, purple and blue, with bright white sources in the densest areas. NGC 3576 is a giant HII region of glowing gas located about 9,000 light years from Earth. In the Chandra image, lower-energy X-rays are colored in red and higher-energy X-rays are in blue. Chandra reveals a cluster of point-like X-ray sources mostly in the center, some of which are massive young stars that are shredding the cloud of gas from which they formed. The blue sources are stars that are deeply embedded in gas. Regions of diffuse X-ray emission are likely caused by hot winds flowing away from the most massive stars. Some of the diffuse gas near the center of the image is also deeply embedded.