Cygnus X is a star forming region in the constellation Cygnus in
the night sky. It looks rather pretty in visible light, as shown
at the beginning of the video below. But in radio, infrared and
gamma ray wavelengths, Cygnus X really comes to life. Recent
Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) observations have shown that
cavities created by massive stars within star forming clouds in
the region are filled with gamma rays, created when the clouds
are struck by cosmic rays. Cygnus X is located 4,500 light years
away from us. It has enough matter to make two million stars
like our Sun, but contains stars that are much more massive than
that. Within Cygnus X are star clusters mainly made up of the
hottest and brightest types of star — O and B type stars. These
clusters, known as OB associations, are just five million years
old — young, in stellar terms. O and B type stars are the most
massive, which is why they’re so rare compared to other types of
star. They “sculpt” the gas clouds in which they reside,
emitting radia