NASA’s Chandra Finds Young Stars Dim Quickly

These images, released on April 14, 2026, show two open star clusters, Trumpler 3 (left) and NGC 2353 (right). They represent a recent study from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory that shows how young Sun-like stars are dimmer in X-rays than previously thought.

This latest study focused on eight star clusters between 45 and 750 million years old. The researchers found that the Sun-like stars in these clusters released only about a quarter to a third of the X-rays they expected. This quieting of young stars is a benefit to the prospects for life on the planets orbiting these stars, not a threat.

Learn more about the significance of this discovery.

Image credit: Radiography: NASA/CXC/Penn State Univ/K. Getman; Optics/IR: PanSTARRS; Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolf