Spitzer Captures Stellar Family Portrait

This image, published in 2019, is of the Cepheus C and Cepheus B regions and combines data from Spitzer's IRAC and MIPS instruments. The green-and-orange delta filling most of the image is a faraway nebula or a cloud of gas and dust in space. Though the cloud may appear to flow from the bright white spot at its tip, it is the remains of a much larger cloud that has been carved away by radiation from stars. The bright region is illuminated by massive stars, belonging to a cluster that extends above the white spot. The white color is the combination of four colors (blue, green, orange, and red), each representing a different wavelength of infrared light, which is invisible to human eyes. Dust that has been heated by the stars' radiation creates the surrounding red glow. NASA/UPI