Located about 5,200 light years from Earth, this stellar cluster is at an ideal stage for studying its evolution: not long after star formation has stopped. In some ways, star clusters are like giant families with thousands of stellar siblings. The stars come from the same origins – a common cloud of gas and dust – and are bound to one another by gravity. By using the Chandra X-ray Observatory (chandraxray) to study young astral clans, like this one, astronomers hope to learn more about how stars – including our Sun – are born. Credits: NASA/CXC/University of Valparaiso/M. Kuhn et. al WISE:NASA/JPL/WISE #chandra #hubble #spitzer #telescope #astronomy #xray #nebula #space #nasa #astronomy #science #picoftheday #pictureoftheday