The European Space Agency’s infrared orbiting telescope Herschel has sent back this image of the Rosette cloud, for your viewing pleasure.

This shot shows the formation of large stars near the Rosette Nebula, around 5,000 light-years away. It is a false colour image, with 70 micron wavelengths showing blue, 160 microns green and 250 microns red. The colours hence show temperatures, with the red being a chilly -263 degrees C and the blue a positively balmy -233 degrees.

“The bright smudges are dusty cocoons hiding massive protostars,” says a statement from ESA. “These will eventually become stars containing around ten times the mass of the Sun. The small spots near the centre and in the redder regions of the image are lower mass protostars, similar in mass to the Sun.”

Image: ESA/PACS & SPIRE Consortium/HOBYS Key Programme Consortia