Serpens South

[4][5] The cluster is situated in the southern portion of the Serpens cloud (adjacent to the star-forming region known as W40).

[3] This discovery was made possible by the infrared capabilities of this space telescope, which were necessary because the stars are completely obscured by interstellar dust in the Serpens cloud at visible wavelengths.

[7][4] And, the region has served as a laboratory for radio-wavelength studies of star formation in dense molecular filaments.

[8] The discovery of Serpens South is a direct result of the Gould's Belt Legacy project at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, which aims to study all prominent star-forming regions within about 1,600 light-years of Earth.

[2] Serpens South is located half a degree west of the main W40 cluster and three degrees south of the Serpens Main cluster.

The Serpens South cluster can be seen as a small group of stars near the top of this large-scale Spitzer mosaic, just to the right of the center, while the neighboring W40 (left side of the image) dominates in the mid-infrared.