NASA Spitzer Space Telescope Image: North American nebula

An image provided by NASA shows a Spitzer Space Telescope infrared image of the swirling landscape of stars known as the North American nebula.

In visible light, the region resembles North America.

The infrared view penetrates dust in the nebula and reveals the glow of dusty cocoons enveloping baby stars.

Clusters of young stars (about one million years old) can be found throughout the image.

Slightly older but still very young stars (about 3 to 5 million years) are also liberally scattered across the complex.

Some areas of this nebula are still very thick with dust and appear dark even in Spitzer's view.

Another photo provided by NASA shows a Spitzer Space Telescope view of the North American nebula in the visible light spectrum.

The shape of North America is a result of clouds of dust obscuring light.