Cygnus, the swan, soars gracefully through summer nights. Its brightest star, Deneb, is in the northeast at nightfall. It marks the swan’s tail. The swan’s body stretches to the right, parallel to the horizon. The wings extend above and below, connected to the body by the star Sadr.

Cygnus contains many star clusters. The list includes several that stretch from Sadr to the south, roughly along the swan’s neck. The clusters contain a few dozen to a few hundred stars. All of them are young – no more than about 10 million years old. And many of them are especially hot, bright, and massive.

The clusters are indirectly related. They belong to much larger collections of young stars, plus the raw materials for making more stars. A “wave” passed through that region of the galaxy, squeezing gigantic clouds of gas and dust. Clumps of material within the clouds collapsed, forming stars.

Over the next few million years, the most massive stars will explode as supernovas. Shockwaves from the blasts may compress more pockets of gas and dust, creating more stars. But the clusters themselves won’t survive much longer – at least on the galactic timescale. They’ll be pulled apart by the gravity of the surrounding stars and clouds, so their stars will go their separate ways.

The clusters are easy targets for good binoculars. One is just a whisker from Sadr. Several others trail off to the right – sparkly decorations for the swan.

Script by Damond Benningfield