Explanation:
Winds and radiation from massive hot stars in
the Rosette Nebula
have cleared the natal
gas and dust from the center of the
nearby star-forming region.
They also pose a danger to
planet forming disks around
young, cooler stars in the neighborhood.
This Spitzer Space Telescope
infrared image of dust clouds
near the Rosette's central region,
shows the cleared-out cavity.
The view spans about 45 light-years at the
the nebula's estimated distance of 5,200 light-years.
Putting your cursor over the false color picture will highlight the
dangerous hot stars,
classified as O stars
with surface temperatures of 25,000
kelvins or higher.
Astronomers calculate
that cool stars wandering
within about 1.6 light-years of the Rosette's O stars are in danger
of having their planet forming
disks destroyed.
