October 6, 2008--Our galaxy's growing pains appear in a composite image of data from the Chandra (blue, X-ray) and Spitzer (red and orange, infrared) orbiting observatories.

The Milky Way's RCW 108 region, 4,000 light-years away, houses young star clusters (left of image center) embedded in a cloud of molecular hydrogen.

Astronomers believe that radiation from massive young stars nearby drives star formation in this region by compressing RCW 108's gas clouds, triggering gravitational collapse and giving rise to new stars.