APOD 2.2

Young Stars in the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/

This is a picture of part of the Rho Ophiuchi cloud, a relatively close star-forming region that is in the constellation Ophiuchus. The glow is created by new stars that heat the surrounding dust; it is in the form of infrared light. Some of the stars in the region are 300,000 years old, which is very young for a star. The picture was taken from the Spitzer space telescope. This telescope was launched in 2003 and follows a heliocentric orbit, which is unusual because most space telescopes orbit Earth.