Quintuplet Cluster: A dense young star cluster near the Galactic
Center about 26,000 light years from Earth. (Credit:
NASA/CXC/Northwestern U./C.Law & F.Yusef-Zadeh) Caption: This
Chandra image presents the first detection of X-rays from stars
in the Quintuplet star cluster. Named for its five brightest
stars at infrared wavelengths, the Quintuplet is known to be
home to hundreds of stars. Several of these are very massive
stars that are rapidly losing gas from their surfaces in high-
speed stellar winds. The bright point-like concentrations of 50
million degree Celsius gas in Chandra's image are thought to be
caused by collisions between the high-speed winds in massive
stars that have closely orbiting partners. Colliding stellar
winds could also explain the diffuse X-radiation seen between
the stars in the Quintuplet. Scale: Image is 0.6 arcmin per side
Chandra X-ray Observatory ACIS CXC operated for NASA by the
Smithsonian Astrophysical