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Collection:
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NASA Hubble Space Telescope Collection
Collection
NASA Hubble Space Telescope Collection
Collection
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Title:
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A Puzzle of Galactic Evolution is Solved ? Massive Gas Clouds Seed the Galaxy with the Stuff of Stars
Title
A Puzzle of Galactic Evolution is Solved ? Massive Gas Clouds Seed the Galaxy with the Stuff of Stars
Title
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Object Name:
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Milky Way
Object_Name
Milky Way
Object Name
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Acknowledgement:
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*Photo Credit:* Image composite by Ingrid Kallick of Possible Designs, Madison Wisconsin. The background Milky Way image is a drawing made at Lund Observatory. High-velocity clouds are from the survey done at Dwingeloo Observatory (Hulsbosch & Wakker, 1988).
Acknowledgement
*Photo Credit:* Image composite by Ingrid Kallick of Possible Designs, Madison Wisconsin. The background Milky Way image is a drawing made at Lund Observatory. High-velocity clouds are from the survey done at Dwingeloo Observatory (Hulsbosch & Wakker, 1988).
Acknowledgement
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Fast Facts:
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note:
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*Image Type:*: Astronomical/Illustr ation
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*Image Type:*: Astronomical/Illustr ation
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note:
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*Release Date*:November 24, 1999 02:00 PM (EST)
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*Release Date*:November 24, 1999 02:00 PM (EST)
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note:
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*News Release Number:*: STScI-1999-46a
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*News Release Number:*: STScI-1999-46a
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*Title*:A Puzzle of Galactic Evolution is Solved ? Massive Gas Clouds Seed the Galaxy with the Stuff of Stars
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*Title*:A Puzzle of Galactic Evolution is Solved ? Massive Gas Clouds Seed the Galaxy with the Stuff of Stars
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note:
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*Description*:
This composite radio light image and rendition of our galaxy as seen in visible light shows enigmatic "high-velocity clouds" of gas high above the plane of the Milky Way which rain gas into the galaxy, seeding it with the stuff of stars.
The cloud outlined, and possibly others too, is now known to have low heavy element content and to be raining down onto the Milky Way disk, seeding it with material for star birth. Identifying this infalling gas helps in solving a long-standing mystery of galactic evolution by revealing a source of the low-metallicity gas required to explain the observed chemical composition of stars near the Sun.
In this all-sky projection, the edge-on plane of our galaxy appears as a white horizontal strip. The false-color orange-yellow "clouds" are regions containing neutral hydrogen, which glows in 21-centimeter radiation. Hubble Space Telescope's spectrograph was aimed at one of the clouds (encircled) to measure its detailed composition and velocity.
This discovery is based on a combination of data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, three radio telescopes (at Effelsberg in Germany, and Dwingeloo and Westerbork in the Netherlands), the William Herschel Telescope on the island of La Palma and the Wisconsin H-alpha Mapper at NOAO's Kitt Peak Observatory.
note
*Description*:
This composite radio light image and rendition of our galaxy as seen in visible light shows enigmatic "high-velocity clouds" of gas high above the plane of the Milky Way which rain gas into the galaxy, seeding it with the stuff of stars.
The cloud outlined, and possibly others too, is now known to have low heavy element content and to be raining down onto the Milky Way disk, seeding it with material for star birth. Identifying this infalling gas helps in solving a long-standing mystery of galactic evolution by revealing a source of the low-metallicity gas required to explain the observed chemical composition of stars near the Sun.
In this all-sky projection, the edge-on plane of our galaxy appears as a white horizontal strip. The false-color orange-yellow "clouds" are regions containing neutral hydrogen, which glows in 21-centimeter radiation. Hubble Space Telescope's spectrograph was aimed at one of the clouds (encircled) to measure its detailed composition and velocity.
This discovery is based on a combination of data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, three radio telescopes (at Effelsberg in Germany, and Dwingeloo and Westerbork in the Netherlands), the William Herschel Telescope on the island of La Palma and the Wisconsin H-alpha Mapper at NOAO's Kitt Peak Observatory.
note
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facet_what:
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Sun
facet_what
Sun
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Visible Light
facet_what
Visible Light
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
facet_what
Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
facet_what
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facet_what:
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stars
facet_what
stars
facet_what
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facet_where:
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Netherlands
facet_where
Netherlands
facet_where
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facet_where:
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Wisconsin
facet_where
Wisconsin
facet_where
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facet_where:
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Madison
facet_where
Madison
facet_where
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facet_where:
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Germany
facet_where
Germany
facet_where
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facet_when:
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November 24, 1999
facet_when
November 24, 1999
facet_when
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facet_when_year:
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1999
facet_when_year
1999
facet_when_year
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UID:
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SPD-HUBBLE-STScI-199 9-46a
UID
SPD-HUBBLE-STScI-199 9-46a
UID
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original url:
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original_url
original url
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Release Date:
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November 24, 1999 02:00 PM (EST)
Release_Date
November 24, 1999 02:00 PM (EST)
Release Date
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