Credit: X-ray: NASA/U. of Sydney/G.Anderson et al; IR: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Data from Chandra and Spitzer of a region near the Galactic

plane have been combined to track down some of the Milky Way's

heaviest stars, which can be very elusive. The outlined boxes contain

darkened Spitzer data and a bright Chandra X-ray source (blue) that

coincides with a strong infrared signal. These are giant stars

thought to be at least 25 times more massive than the Sun. They are

very bright in X-rays because high-speed winds from their surfaces

collide with material, creating shock waves that generate temperatures

up to 100 million degrees.

Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2011/massive/

Curator: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA

Image Use Policy: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html