Astronomers get first glimpse of new stars

Astronomers get first glimpse of new stars: "Astronomers get first glimpse of new stars

(AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech/P.S. Teixeira - Center for Astrophysics) :: This is an image originally released on Dec. 22, 2005 showing the first glimpse of newborn stars clustered geometrically in a newly formed nebula.

By Associated Press
Updated: 12/26/05

TUCSON, Ariz.

Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have discovered a perfectly decorated Christmas tree 2,500 light years from earth.

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Scientists at the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory said the remarkable star cluster gives them the first glimpse of newborn stars acting just as predicted - patterned geometrically and spaced according to density, temperature and gravity.

'If you look at the very young stars in the cluster and the spacing between them, it isn't random spacing,' said Erick T. Young, an astronomer at the Steward Observatory. 'They're all about the same distance apart.'"