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Scientists observe colliding stellar winds from two colossal stars.

Learn more about Cygnus OB2 #9's stars, their orbits and the interaction of their stellar winds in this video.

This illustration shows the highly eccentric orbits of the two stars found in Cygnus OB2 #9.

Space telescopes monitored X-ray emissions (orange) from Cygnus OB2 #9 in the months leading up to the stars' closest approach.

As the stars grew closer, X-ray emissions increased.

Around closest approach, when the stars were separated by less than three times Earth's average distance from the sun, X-ray emissions peaked.