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Advanced Camera for Surveys of Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) from 2004
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A More Spectacular Sombrero
…
| Title |
A More Spectacular Sombrero (Widescreen Version) |
| Description |
This movie shifts from the well-known visible-light picture of Messier 104 taken by the Hubble Space Telescope to infrared views from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Messier 104 is commonly known as the Sombrero galaxy because in visible light, it resembles the broad-brimmed Mexican hat. However, in Spitzer's striking infrared view, the galaxy looks more like a "bull's eye." Viewed from Earth, the spiral galaxy is seen nearly edge-on, just six degrees away from its equatorial plane. 50,000 light-years across, the Sombrero galaxy is considered one of the most massive objects at the southern edge of the Virgo cluster of galaxies. It is located 28 million light-years away, hosts a rich system of nearly 2,000 globular clusters and may harbor a super-massive black hole. In Hubble's visible light image, only the near rim of dust can be clearly seen in silhouette. Recent observations using Spitzer's infrared array camera uncovered the bright, smooth ring of dust circling the galaxy, seen in red. Spitzer's infrared view of the starlight, pierced through the obscuring dust, is easily seen, along with the bulge of stars and an otherwise hidden disk of stars within the dust ring. Spitzer's full view shows the disk is warped, which is often the result of a gravitational encounter with another galaxy, and clumpy areas spotted in the far edges of the ring indicate young star-forming regions. The Sombrero galaxy is located some 28 million light-years away. Viewed from Earth, it is just six degrees south of its equatorial plane. Spitzer detected infrared emission not only from the ring, but from the center of the galaxy too, where there is a huge black hole, believed to be a billion times more massive than our Sun. The Spitzer picture is composed of four images taken at 3.6 (blue), 4.5 (green), 5.8 (orange), and 8.0 (red) microns. The contribution from starlight (measured at 3.6 microns) has been subtracted from the 5.8 and 8-micron images to enhance the visibility of the dust features. The Hubble Heritage Team took these observations in May-June 2003 with the space telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. Images were taken in three filters (red, green, and blue) to yield a natural-color image. The team took six pictures of the galaxy and then stitched them together to create the final composite image. This magnificent galaxy has a diameter that is nearly one-fifth the diameter of the full Moon. |
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Spitzer Spies Spectacular So
…
| Title |
Spitzer Spies Spectacular Sombrero |
| Description |
NASA's Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes joined forces to create this striking composite image of one of the most popular sights in the universe. Messier 104 is commonly known as the Sombrero galaxy because in visible light, it resembles the broad-brimmed Mexican hat. However, in Spitzer's striking infrared view, the galaxy looks more like a "bull's eye." In Hubble's visible light image (lower left panel), only the near rim of dust can be clearly seen in silhouette. Recent observations using Spitzer's infrared array camera (lower right panel) uncovered the bright, smooth ring of dust circling the galaxy, seen in red. Spitzer's infrared view of the starlight, piercing through the obscuring dust, is easily seen, along with the bulge of stars and an otherwise hidden disk of stars within the dust ring. Spitzer's full view shows the disk is warped, which is often the result of a gravitational encounter with another galaxy, and clumpy areas spotted in the far edges of the ring indicate young star-forming regions. The Sombrero galaxy is located some 28 million light-years away. Viewed from Earth, it is just six degrees south of its equatorial plane. Spitzer detected infrared emission not only from the ring, but from the center of the galaxy too, where there is a huge black hole, believed to be a billion times more massive than our Sun. The Spitzer picture is composed of four images taken at 3.6 (blue), 4.5 (green), 5.8 (orange), and 8.0 (red) microns. The contribution from starlight (measured at 3.6 microns) has been subtracted from the 5.8 and 8-micron images to enhance the visibility of the dust features. The Hubble Heritage Team took these observations in May-June 2003 with the space telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. Images were taken in three filters (red, green, and blue) to yield a natural-color image. The team took six pictures of the galaxy and then stitched them together to create the final composite image. This magnificent galaxy has a diameter that is nearly one-fifth the diameter of the full Moon. |
|
Spitzer Spies Spectacular So
…
| Title |
Spitzer Spies Spectacular Sombrero |
| Description |
NASA's Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes joined forces to create this striking composite image of one of the most popular sights in the universe. Messier 104 is commonly known as the Sombrero galaxy because in visible light, it resembles the broad-brimmed Mexican hat. However, in Spitzer's striking infrared view, the galaxy looks more like a "bull's eye." In Hubble's visible light image (lower left panel), only the near rim of dust can be clearly seen in silhouette. Recent observations using Spitzer's infrared array camera (lower right panel) uncovered the bright, smooth ring of dust circling the galaxy, seen in red. Spitzer's infrared view of the starlight, piercing through the obscuring dust, is easily seen, along with the bulge of stars and an otherwise hidden disk of stars within the dust ring. Spitzer's full view shows the disk is warped, which is often the result of a gravitational encounter with another galaxy, and clumpy areas spotted in the far edges of the ring indicate young star-forming regions. The Sombrero galaxy is located some 28 million light-years away. Viewed from Earth, it is just six degrees south of its equatorial plane. Spitzer detected infrared emission not only from the ring, but from the center of the galaxy too, where there is a huge black hole, believed to be a billion times more massive than our Sun. The Spitzer picture is composed of four images taken at 3.6 (blue), 4.5 (green), 5.8 (orange), and 8.0 (red) microns. The contribution from starlight (measured at 3.6 microns) has been subtracted from the 5.8 and 8-micron images to enhance the visibility of the dust features. The Hubble Heritage Team took these observations in May-June 2003 with the space telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. Images were taken in three filters (red, green, and blue) to yield a natural-color image. The team took six pictures of the galaxy and then stitched them together to create the final composite image. This magnificent galaxy has a diameter that is nearly one-fifth the diameter of the full Moon. |
|
Spitzer Spies Spectacular So
…
| Title |
Spitzer Spies Spectacular Sombrero |
| Description |
NASA's Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes joined forces to create this striking composite image of one of the most popular sights in the universe. Messier 104 is commonly known as the Sombrero galaxy because in visible light, it resembles the broad-brimmed Mexican hat. However, in Spitzer's striking infrared view, the galaxy looks more like a "bull's eye." In Hubble's visible light image (lower left panel), only the near rim of dust can be clearly seen in silhouette. Recent observations using Spitzer's infrared array camera (lower right panel) uncovered the bright, smooth ring of dust circling the galaxy, seen in red. Spitzer's infrared view of the starlight, piercing through the obscuring dust, is easily seen, along with the bulge of stars and an otherwise hidden disk of stars within the dust ring. Spitzer's full view shows the disk is warped, which is often the result of a gravitational encounter with another galaxy, and clumpy areas spotted in the far edges of the ring indicate young star-forming regions. The Sombrero galaxy is located some 28 million light-years away. Viewed from Earth, it is just six degrees south of its equatorial plane. Spitzer detected infrared emission not only from the ring, but from the center of the galaxy too, where there is a huge black hole, believed to be a billion times more massive than our Sun. The Spitzer picture is composed of four images taken at 3.6 (blue), 4.5 (green), 5.8 (orange), and 8.0 (red) microns. The contribution from starlight (measured at 3.6 microns) has been subtracted from the 5.8 and 8-micron images to enhance the visibility of the dust features. The Hubble Heritage Team took these observations in May-June 2003 with the space telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. Images were taken in three filters (red, green, and blue) to yield a natural-color image. The team took six pictures of the galaxy and then stitched them together to create the final composite image. This magnificent galaxy has a diameter that is nearly one-fifth the diameter of the full Moon. |
|
Spitzer Spies Spectacular So
…
| Title |
Spitzer Spies Spectacular Sombrero |
| Description |
NASA's Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes joined forces to create this striking composite image of one of the most popular sights in the universe. Messier 104 is commonly known as the Sombrero galaxy because in visible light, it resembles the broad-brimmed Mexican hat. However, in Spitzer's striking infrared view, the galaxy looks more like a "bull's eye." In Hubble's visible light image (lower left panel), only the near rim of dust can be clearly seen in silhouette. Recent observations using Spitzer's infrared array camera (lower right panel) uncovered the bright, smooth ring of dust circling the galaxy, seen in red. Spitzer's infrared view of the starlight, piercing through the obscuring dust, is easily seen, along with the bulge of stars and an otherwise hidden disk of stars within the dust ring. Spitzer's full view shows the disk is warped, which is often the result of a gravitational encounter with another galaxy, and clumpy areas spotted in the far edges of the ring indicate young star-forming regions. The Sombrero galaxy is located some 28 million light-years away. Viewed from Earth, it is just six degrees south of its equatorial plane. Spitzer detected infrared emission not only from the ring, but from the center of the galaxy too, where there is a huge black hole, believed to be a billion times more massive than our Sun. The Spitzer picture is composed of four images taken at 3.6 (blue), 4.5 (green), 5.8 (orange), and 8.0 (red) microns. The contribution from starlight (measured at 3.6 microns) has been subtracted from the 5.8 and 8-micron images to enhance the visibility of the dust features. The Hubble Heritage Team took these observations in May-June 2003 with the space telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. Images were taken in three filters (red, green, and blue) to yield a natural-color image. The team took six pictures of the galaxy and then stitched them together to create the final composite image. This magnificent galaxy has a diameter that is nearly one-fifth the diameter of the full Moon. |
|
A More Spectacular Sombrero
| Title |
A More Spectacular Sombrero |
| Description |
This movie shifts from the well-known visible-light picture of Messier 104 taken by the Hubble Space Telescope to infrared views from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Messier 104 is commonly known as the Sombrero galaxy because in visible light, it resembles the broad-brimmed Mexican hat. However, in Spitzer's striking infrared view, the galaxy looks more like a "bull's eye." Viewed from Earth, the spiral galaxy is seen nearly edge-on, just six degrees away from its equatorial plane. 50,000 light-years across, the Sombrero galaxy is considered one of the most massive objects at the southern edge of the Virgo cluster of galaxies. It is located 28 million light-years away, hosts a rich system of nearly 2,000 globular clusters and may harbor a super-massive black hole. In Hubble's visible light image, only the near rim of dust can be clearly seen in silhouette. Recent observations using Spitzer's infrared array camera uncovered the bright, smooth ring of dust circling the galaxy, seen in red. Spitzer's infrared view of the starlight, pierced through the obscuring dust, is easily seen, along with the bulge of stars and an otherwise hidden disk of stars within the dust ring. Spitzer's full view shows the disk is warped, which is often the result of a gravitational encounter with another galaxy, and clumpy areas spotted in the far edges of the ring indicate young star-forming regions. The Sombrero galaxy is located some 28 million light-years away. Viewed from Earth, it is just six degrees south of its equatorial plane. Spitzer detected infrared emission not only from the ring, but from the center of the galaxy too, where there is a huge black hole, believed to be a billion times more massive than our Sun. The Spitzer picture is composed of four images taken at 3.6 (blue), 4.5 (green), 5.8 (orange), and 8.0 (red) microns. The contribution from starlight (measured at 3.6 microns) has been subtracted from the 5.8 and 8-micron images to enhance the visibility of the dust features. The Hubble Heritage Team took these observations in May-June 2003 with the space telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. Images were taken in three filters (red, green, and blue) to yield a natural-color image. The team took six pictures of the galaxy and then stitched them together to create the final composite image. This magnificent galaxy has a diameter that is nearly one-fifth the diameter of the full Moon. |
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10,000 Galaxies
| title |
10,000 Galaxies |
| date |
01.16.2004 |
| description |
Galaxies, galaxies everywhere - as far as NASA's Hubble Space Telescope can see. This view of nearly 10,000 galaxies is the deepest visible-light image of the cosmos. Called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, this galaxy-studded view represents a "deep" core sample of the universe, cutting across billions of light-years. The snapshot includes galaxies of various ages, sizes, shapes, and colors. The smallest, reddest galaxies, about 100, may be among the most distant known, existing when the universe was just 800 million years old. The nearest galaxies - the larger, brighter, well-defined spirals and ellipticals - thrived about 1 billion years ago, when the cosmos was 13 billion years old. In vibrant contrast to the rich harvest of classic spiral and elliptical galaxies, there is a zoo of oddball galaxies littering the field. Some look like toothpicks, others like links on a bracelet. A few appear to be interacting. These oddball galaxies chronicle a period when the universe was younger and more chaotic. Order and structure were just beginning to emerge. The Ultra Deep Field observations, taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys, represent a narrow, deep view of the cosmos. Peering into the Ultra Deep Field is like looking through an eight-foot-long soda straw. In ground-based photographs, the patch of sky in which the galaxies reside (just one-tenth the diameter of the full Moon) is largely empty. Located in the constellation Fornax, the region is so empty that only a handful of stars within the Milky Way galaxy can be seen in the image. In this image, blue and green correspond to colors that can be seen by the human eye, such as hot, young, blue stars and the glow of Sun-like stars in the disks of galaxies. Red represents near-infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye, such as the red glow of dust-enshrouded galaxies. The image required 800 exposures taken over the course of 400 Hubble orbits around Earth. The total amount of exposure time was 11.3 days, taken between Sept. 24, 2003 and Jan. 16, 2004. *Image Credit*: NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI) and the HUDF Team |
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An Asteroid's Sky Trek
| title |
An Asteroid's Sky Trek |
| description |
While analyzing NASA Hubble Space Telescope images of the Sagittarius dwarf irregular galaxy (SagDIG), an international team of astronomers led by Simone Marchi, Yazan Momany, and Luigi Bedin were surprised to see the trail of a faint asteroid that had drifted across the field of view during the exposures. The trail is seen as a series of 13 reddish arcs on the right in this August 2003 Advanced Camera for Surveys image. As the Hubble telescope orbits around the Earth, and the Earth moves around the Sun, a nearby asteroid in our solar system will appear to move with respect to the vastly more distant background stars, due to an effect called parallax. It is somewhat similar to the effect you see from a moving car, in which trees by the side of the road appear to be moving much more rapidly than background objects at much larger distances. If the Hubble exposure were a continuous one, the asteroid trail would appear like a continuous wavy line. However, the exposure with Hubble's camera was actually broken up into more than a dozen separate exposures. After each exposure, the camera's shutter was closed while the image was transferred from the electronic detector into the camera's computer memory, this accounts for the many interruptions in the asteroid's trail. Since the trajectory of the Hubble spacecraft around the Earth is known very accurately, it is possible to triangulate the distance to the asteroid in a manner similar to that used by terrestrial surveyors. It turns out to be a previously unknown asteroid, located 169 million miles from Earth at the time of observation. The distance places the new object, most likely, in the main asteroid belt, lying between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Based on the observed brightness of the asteroid, the astronomers estimate that it has a diameter of about 1.5 miles. The brightest stars in the picture (easily distinguished by the spikes radiating from their images, produced by optical effects within the telescope), are foreground stars lying within our own Milky Way galaxy. Their distances from Earth are typically a few thousand light-years. The faint, bluish SagDIG stars lie at about 3.5 million light-years (1.1 Megaparsecs) from us. Lastly, background galaxies (reddish/brown extended objects with spiral arms and halos) are located even further beyond SagDIG at several tens of millions parsecs away. There is thus a vast range of distances among the objects visible in this photo, ranging from about 169 million miles for the asteroid, up to many quadrillions of miles for the faint, small galaxies. The team reported their science findings about the asteroid in the October 2004 issue of New Astronomy. *Image Credit*: NASA, ESA, and Y. Momany (University of Padua) |
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Saturn Seen from Far and Nea
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| Title |
Saturn Seen from Far and Near |
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Hubble Photographs Grand Des
…
| Title |
Hubble Photographs Grand Design Spiral Galaxy M81 |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. What is an American Astronomical Society Meeting release? A major news announcement issued at an American Astronomical Society meeting, the premier astronomy conference. The sharpest image ever taken of the large "grand design" spiral galaxy M81 is being released today at the American Astronomical Society Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii. A spiral-shaped system of stars, dust, and gas clouds, the galaxy's arms wind all the way down into the nucleus. Though the galaxy is located 11.6 million light-years away, the Hubble Space Telescope's view is so sharp that it can resolve individual stars, along with open star clusters, globular star clusters, and even glowing regions of fluorescent gas. The Hubble data was taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys in 2004 through 2006. This color composite was assembled from images taken in blue, visible, and infrared light. |
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Hubble, Sloan Quadruple Numb
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| Title |
Hubble, Sloan Quadruple Number of Known Optical Einstein Rings |
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Spitzer Spies Spectacular So
…
PIA07899
Infrared Array Camera (IRAC)
…
| Title |
Spitzer Spies Spectacular Sombrero |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Figure 1 NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope set its infrared eyes on one of the most famous objects in the sky, Messier 104, also called the Sombrero galaxy. In this striking infrared picture, Spitzer sees an exciting new view of a galaxy that in visible light has been likened to a "sombrero," but here looks more like a "bulls-eye." Recent observations using Spitzer's infrared array camera uncovered the bright, smooth ring of dust circling the galaxy, seen in red. In visible light, because this galaxy is seen nearly edge-on, only the near rim of dust can be clearly seen in silhouette. Spitzer's full view shows the disk is warped, which is often the result of a gravitational encounter with another galaxy, and clumpy areas spotted in the far edges of the ring indicate young star-forming regions. Spitzer's infrared view of the starlight from this galaxy, seen in blue, can pierce through obscuring murky dust that dominates in visible light. As a result, the full extent of the bulge of stars and an otherwise hidden disk of stars within the dust ring are easily seen. The Sombrero galaxy is located some 28 million light years away. Viewed from Earth, it is just six degrees south of its equatorial plane. Spitzer detected infrared emission not only from the ring, but from the center of the galaxy too, where there is a huge black hole, believed to be a billion times more massive than our Sun. This picture is composed of four images taken at 3.6 (blue), 4.5 (green), 5.8 (orange), and 8.0 (red) microns. The contribution from starlight (measured at 3.6 microns) has been subtracted from the 5.8 and 8-micron images to enhance the visibility of the dust features. In figure 1, the new picture of Messier 104 combines a recent infrared observation from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope with a well-known visible light image from the Hubble Space Telescope. In the Hubble Space Telescope's visible light image (lower left panel), only the near rim of dust can be clearly seen in silhouette. Recent observations using Spitzer's infrared array camera (lower right panel) uncovered the bright, smooth ring of dust circling the galaxy, seen in red. Spitzer's infrared view of the starlight, pierced through the obscuring dust, is easily seen, along with the bulge of stars and an otherwise hidden disk of stars within the dust ring. Spitzer's full view shows the disk is warped, which is often the result of a gravitational encounter with another galaxy, and clumpy areas spotted in the far edges of the ring indicate young star-forming regions. In figure 2, the infrared space telescope adds new detail to the galaxy's hallmark characteristics, such as the bright, bulbous core encircled by its thick dust lanes. Since infrared light can trace the dust, the dark, murky ring glows brilliantly in infrared. The clumpy dust ring also becomes transparent to starlight in infrared, allowing a clear view of the inner disk of stars within the dust ring. Viewed from Earth, the, Sombrero galaxy is seen nearly edge-on, just six degrees away from its equatorial plane. This spiral galaxy is located 28 million light years away and is 50,000 light-years across. The Sombrero is one of the most massive objects at the southern edge of the Virgo cluster of galaxies, and is equal in size to 800 billion Suns. It hosts a rich system of nearly 2,000 globular clusters, 10 times as many as orbit our Milky Way galaxy. It is also interesting that the Sombrero galaxy may harbor a super-massive black hole, accounting for the electromagnetic glow emitted from its center. The Hubble images were taken by the Hubble Heritage Team in May-June 2003 with the space telescope's advanced camera for surveys. Spitzer's images were taken in June 2004 and January 2005 as part of the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey, using the telescope's infrared array camera. The survey is one of the six Spitzer Legacy Science projects, designed to reveal how stars are formed in different types of galaxies, and to provide an atlas of galaxy images and spectra for future archival investigations. The Sombrero is one of 75 galaxies being observed by the survey team. In this image, blue-cyan corresponds to the Hubble visible-light view, while the Spitzer 3.6-4.5 micron light is green and 8.0 micron light is red. Starlight in this Spitzer image (measured at 3.6 microns) has been subtracted from the 8-micron image to enhance the visibility of the dust features. In figure 3, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has trained its sharp eye on one of the universe's most stately and photogenic galaxies, Messier 104. The galaxy's hallmark is a brilliant white, bulbous core encircled by the thick dust lanes comprising the spiral structure of the galaxy. As seen from Earth, the galaxy is tilted nearly edge-on. We view it from just six degrees north of its equatorial plane. This brilliant galaxy was named the Sombrero because in visible light it resembles a broad rimmed and high-topped Mexican hat. M104 is just beyond the limit of the naked eye, but is easily seen through small telescopes. It lies at the southern edge of the rich Virgo cluster of galaxies. It is one of the most massive objects in that group, equivalent to 800 billion suns. The galaxy is 50,000 light-years across and is located 28 million light-years from Earth. Hubble easily resolves M104's rich system of 2,000 globular clusters-believed to be 10 times as many as orbit our Milky Way galaxy. The ages of the clusters are similar to those of the clusters in the Milky Way, ranging from 10-13 billion years. A smaller disk is embedded in the bright core of M104, and is tilted relative to the large disk. X-ray emission hints that there is material falling into the compact core, where a black hole as massive as 1 billion suns resides. The Hubble Heritage Team took these observations in May-June 2003 with the space telescope's advanced camera for surveys. Images were taken in three filters (red, green, and blue), to yield a natural-color image. The team took six pictures of the galaxy and then stitched them together to create the final composite image. This magnificent galaxy has a diameter that is nearly one-fifth the diameter of the full Moon. The movie shifts from the well-known visible-light picture of Messier 104 taken by the Hubble Space Telescope to infrared views from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Messier (click on the browse image above for download option). |
|
Spitzer Spies Spectacular So
…
PIA07899
Infrared Array Camera (IRAC)
…
| Title |
Spitzer Spies Spectacular Sombrero |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Figure 1 NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope set its infrared eyes on one of the most famous objects in the sky, Messier 104, also called the Sombrero galaxy. In this striking infrared picture, Spitzer sees an exciting new view of a galaxy that in visible light has been likened to a "sombrero," but here looks more like a "bulls-eye." Recent observations using Spitzer's infrared array camera uncovered the bright, smooth ring of dust circling the galaxy, seen in red. In visible light, because this galaxy is seen nearly edge-on, only the near rim of dust can be clearly seen in silhouette. Spitzer's full view shows the disk is warped, which is often the result of a gravitational encounter with another galaxy, and clumpy areas spotted in the far edges of the ring indicate young star-forming regions. Spitzer's infrared view of the starlight from this galaxy, seen in blue, can pierce through obscuring murky dust that dominates in visible light. As a result, the full extent of the bulge of stars and an otherwise hidden disk of stars within the dust ring are easily seen. The Sombrero galaxy is located some 28 million light years away. Viewed from Earth, it is just six degrees south of its equatorial plane. Spitzer detected infrared emission not only from the ring, but from the center of the galaxy too, where there is a huge black hole, believed to be a billion times more massive than our Sun. This picture is composed of four images taken at 3.6 (blue), 4.5 (green), 5.8 (orange), and 8.0 (red) microns. The contribution from starlight (measured at 3.6 microns) has been subtracted from the 5.8 and 8-micron images to enhance the visibility of the dust features. In figure 1, the new picture of Messier 104 combines a recent infrared observation from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope with a well-known visible light image from the Hubble Space Telescope. In the Hubble Space Telescope's visible light image (lower left panel), only the near rim of dust can be clearly seen in silhouette. Recent observations using Spitzer's infrared array camera (lower right panel) uncovered the bright, smooth ring of dust circling the galaxy, seen in red. Spitzer's infrared view of the starlight, pierced through the obscuring dust, is easily seen, along with the bulge of stars and an otherwise hidden disk of stars within the dust ring. Spitzer's full view shows the disk is warped, which is often the result of a gravitational encounter with another galaxy, and clumpy areas spotted in the far edges of the ring indicate young star-forming regions. In figure 2, the infrared space telescope adds new detail to the galaxy's hallmark characteristics, such as the bright, bulbous core encircled by its thick dust lanes. Since infrared light can trace the dust, the dark, murky ring glows brilliantly in infrared. The clumpy dust ring also becomes transparent to starlight in infrared, allowing a clear view of the inner disk of stars within the dust ring. Viewed from Earth, the, Sombrero galaxy is seen nearly edge-on, just six degrees away from its equatorial plane. This spiral galaxy is located 28 million light years away and is 50,000 light-years across. The Sombrero is one of the most massive objects at the southern edge of the Virgo cluster of galaxies, and is equal in size to 800 billion Suns. It hosts a rich system of nearly 2,000 globular clusters, 10 times as many as orbit our Milky Way galaxy. It is also interesting that the Sombrero galaxy may harbor a super-massive black hole, accounting for the electromagnetic glow emitted from its center. The Hubble images were taken by the Hubble Heritage Team in May-June 2003 with the space telescope's advanced camera for surveys. Spitzer's images were taken in June 2004 and January 2005 as part of the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey, using the telescope's infrared array camera. The survey is one of the six Spitzer Legacy Science projects, designed to reveal how stars are formed in different types of galaxies, and to provide an atlas of galaxy images and spectra for future archival investigations. The Sombrero is one of 75 galaxies being observed by the survey team. In this image, blue-cyan corresponds to the Hubble visible-light view, while the Spitzer 3.6-4.5 micron light is green and 8.0 micron light is red. Starlight in this Spitzer image (measured at 3.6 microns) has been subtracted from the 8-micron image to enhance the visibility of the dust features. In figure 3, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has trained its sharp eye on one of the universe's most stately and photogenic galaxies, Messier 104. The galaxy's hallmark is a brilliant white, bulbous core encircled by the thick dust lanes comprising the spiral structure of the galaxy. As seen from Earth, the galaxy is tilted nearly edge-on. We view it from just six degrees north of its equatorial plane. This brilliant galaxy was named the Sombrero because in visible light it resembles a broad rimmed and high-topped Mexican hat. M104 is just beyond the limit of the naked eye, but is easily seen through small telescopes. It lies at the southern edge of the rich Virgo cluster of galaxies. It is one of the most massive objects in that group, equivalent to 800 billion suns. The galaxy is 50,000 light-years across and is located 28 million light-years from Earth. Hubble easily resolves M104's rich system of 2,000 globular clusters-believed to be 10 times as many as orbit our Milky Way galaxy. The ages of the clusters are similar to those of the clusters in the Milky Way, ranging from 10-13 billion years. A smaller disk is embedded in the bright core of M104, and is tilted relative to the large disk. X-ray emission hints that there is material falling into the compact core, where a black hole as massive as 1 billion suns resides. The Hubble Heritage Team took these observations in May-June 2003 with the space telescope's advanced camera for surveys. Images were taken in three filters (red, green, and blue), to yield a natural-color image. The team took six pictures of the galaxy and then stitched them together to create the final composite image. This magnificent galaxy has a diameter that is nearly one-fifth the diameter of the full Moon. The movie shifts from the well-known visible-light picture of Messier 104 taken by the Hubble Space Telescope to infrared views from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Messier (click on the browse image above for download option). |
|
Spitzer Spies Spectacular So
…
PIA07899
Infrared Array Camera (IRAC)
…
| Title |
Spitzer Spies Spectacular Sombrero |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Figure 1 NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope set its infrared eyes on one of the most famous objects in the sky, Messier 104, also called the Sombrero galaxy. In this striking infrared picture, Spitzer sees an exciting new view of a galaxy that in visible light has been likened to a "sombrero," but here looks more like a "bulls-eye." Recent observations using Spitzer's infrared array camera uncovered the bright, smooth ring of dust circling the galaxy, seen in red. In visible light, because this galaxy is seen nearly edge-on, only the near rim of dust can be clearly seen in silhouette. Spitzer's full view shows the disk is warped, which is often the result of a gravitational encounter with another galaxy, and clumpy areas spotted in the far edges of the ring indicate young star-forming regions. Spitzer's infrared view of the starlight from this galaxy, seen in blue, can pierce through obscuring murky dust that dominates in visible light. As a result, the full extent of the bulge of stars and an otherwise hidden disk of stars within the dust ring are easily seen. The Sombrero galaxy is located some 28 million light years away. Viewed from Earth, it is just six degrees south of its equatorial plane. Spitzer detected infrared emission not only from the ring, but from the center of the galaxy too, where there is a huge black hole, believed to be a billion times more massive than our Sun. This picture is composed of four images taken at 3.6 (blue), 4.5 (green), 5.8 (orange), and 8.0 (red) microns. The contribution from starlight (measured at 3.6 microns) has been subtracted from the 5.8 and 8-micron images to enhance the visibility of the dust features. In figure 1, the new picture of Messier 104 combines a recent infrared observation from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope with a well-known visible light image from the Hubble Space Telescope. In the Hubble Space Telescope's visible light image (lower left panel), only the near rim of dust can be clearly seen in silhouette. Recent observations using Spitzer's infrared array camera (lower right panel) uncovered the bright, smooth ring of dust circling the galaxy, seen in red. Spitzer's infrared view of the starlight, pierced through the obscuring dust, is easily seen, along with the bulge of stars and an otherwise hidden disk of stars within the dust ring. Spitzer's full view shows the disk is warped, which is often the result of a gravitational encounter with another galaxy, and clumpy areas spotted in the far edges of the ring indicate young star-forming regions. In figure 2, the infrared space telescope adds new detail to the galaxy's hallmark characteristics, such as the bright, bulbous core encircled by its thick dust lanes. Since infrared light can trace the dust, the dark, murky ring glows brilliantly in infrared. The clumpy dust ring also becomes transparent to starlight in infrared, allowing a clear view of the inner disk of stars within the dust ring. Viewed from Earth, the, Sombrero galaxy is seen nearly edge-on, just six degrees away from its equatorial plane. This spiral galaxy is located 28 million light years away and is 50,000 light-years across. The Sombrero is one of the most massive objects at the southern edge of the Virgo cluster of galaxies, and is equal in size to 800 billion Suns. It hosts a rich system of nearly 2,000 globular clusters, 10 times as many as orbit our Milky Way galaxy. It is also interesting that the Sombrero galaxy may harbor a super-massive black hole, accounting for the electromagnetic glow emitted from its center. The Hubble images were taken by the Hubble Heritage Team in May-June 2003 with the space telescope's advanced camera for surveys. Spitzer's images were taken in June 2004 and January 2005 as part of the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey, using the telescope's infrared array camera. The survey is one of the six Spitzer Legacy Science projects, designed to reveal how stars are formed in different types of galaxies, and to provide an atlas of galaxy images and spectra for future archival investigations. The Sombrero is one of 75 galaxies being observed by the survey team. In this image, blue-cyan corresponds to the Hubble visible-light view, while the Spitzer 3.6-4.5 micron light is green and 8.0 micron light is red. Starlight in this Spitzer image (measured at 3.6 microns) has been subtracted from the 8-micron image to enhance the visibility of the dust features. In figure 3, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has trained its sharp eye on one of the universe's most stately and photogenic galaxies, Messier 104. The galaxy's hallmark is a brilliant white, bulbous core encircled by the thick dust lanes comprising the spiral structure of the galaxy. As seen from Earth, the galaxy is tilted nearly edge-on. We view it from just six degrees north of its equatorial plane. This brilliant galaxy was named the Sombrero because in visible light it resembles a broad rimmed and high-topped Mexican hat. M104 is just beyond the limit of the naked eye, but is easily seen through small telescopes. It lies at the southern edge of the rich Virgo cluster of galaxies. It is one of the most massive objects in that group, equivalent to 800 billion suns. The galaxy is 50,000 light-years across and is located 28 million light-years from Earth. Hubble easily resolves M104's rich system of 2,000 globular clusters-believed to be 10 times as many as orbit our Milky Way galaxy. The ages of the clusters are similar to those of the clusters in the Milky Way, ranging from 10-13 billion years. A smaller disk is embedded in the bright core of M104, and is tilted relative to the large disk. X-ray emission hints that there is material falling into the compact core, where a black hole as massive as 1 billion suns resides. The Hubble Heritage Team took these observations in May-June 2003 with the space telescope's advanced camera for surveys. Images were taken in three filters (red, green, and blue), to yield a natural-color image. The team took six pictures of the galaxy and then stitched them together to create the final composite image. This magnificent galaxy has a diameter that is nearly one-fifth the diameter of the full Moon. The movie shifts from the well-known visible-light picture of Messier 104 taken by the Hubble Space Telescope to infrared views from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Messier (click on the browse image above for download option). |
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Spitzer Spies Spectacular So
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PIA07899
Infrared Array Camera (IRAC)
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Spitzer Spies Spectacular Sombrero |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Figure 1 NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope set its infrared eyes on one of the most famous objects in the sky, Messier 104, also called the Sombrero galaxy. In this striking infrared picture, Spitzer sees an exciting new view of a galaxy that in visible light has been likened to a "sombrero," but here looks more like a "bulls-eye." Recent observations using Spitzer's infrared array camera uncovered the bright, smooth ring of dust circling the galaxy, seen in red. In visible light, because this galaxy is seen nearly edge-on, only the near rim of dust can be clearly seen in silhouette. Spitzer's full view shows the disk is warped, which is often the result of a gravitational encounter with another galaxy, and clumpy areas spotted in the far edges of the ring indicate young star-forming regions. Spitzer's infrared view of the starlight from this galaxy, seen in blue, can pierce through obscuring murky dust that dominates in visible light. As a result, the full extent of the bulge of stars and an otherwise hidden disk of stars within the dust ring are easily seen. The Sombrero galaxy is located some 28 million light years away. Viewed from Earth, it is just six degrees south of its equatorial plane. Spitzer detected infrared emission not only from the ring, but from the center of the galaxy too, where there is a huge black hole, believed to be a billion times more massive than our Sun. This picture is composed of four images taken at 3.6 (blue), 4.5 (green), 5.8 (orange), and 8.0 (red) microns. The contribution from starlight (measured at 3.6 microns) has been subtracted from the 5.8 and 8-micron images to enhance the visibility of the dust features. In figure 1, the new picture of Messier 104 combines a recent infrared observation from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope with a well-known visible light image from the Hubble Space Telescope. In the Hubble Space Telescope's visible light image (lower left panel), only the near rim of dust can be clearly seen in silhouette. Recent observations using Spitzer's infrared array camera (lower right panel) uncovered the bright, smooth ring of dust circling the galaxy, seen in red. Spitzer's infrared view of the starlight, pierced through the obscuring dust, is easily seen, along with the bulge of stars and an otherwise hidden disk of stars within the dust ring. Spitzer's full view shows the disk is warped, which is often the result of a gravitational encounter with another galaxy, and clumpy areas spotted in the far edges of the ring indicate young star-forming regions. In figure 2, the infrared space telescope adds new detail to the galaxy's hallmark characteristics, such as the bright, bulbous core encircled by its thick dust lanes. Since infrared light can trace the dust, the dark, murky ring glows brilliantly in infrared. The clumpy dust ring also becomes transparent to starlight in infrared, allowing a clear view of the inner disk of stars within the dust ring. Viewed from Earth, the, Sombrero galaxy is seen nearly edge-on, just six degrees away from its equatorial plane. This spiral galaxy is located 28 million light years away and is 50,000 light-years across. The Sombrero is one of the most massive objects at the southern edge of the Virgo cluster of galaxies, and is equal in size to 800 billion Suns. It hosts a rich system of nearly 2,000 globular clusters, 10 times as many as orbit our Milky Way galaxy. It is also interesting that the Sombrero galaxy may harbor a super-massive black hole, accounting for the electromagnetic glow emitted from its center. The Hubble images were taken by the Hubble Heritage Team in May-June 2003 with the space telescope's advanced camera for surveys. Spitzer's images were taken in June 2004 and January 2005 as part of the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey, using the telescope's infrared array camera. The survey is one of the six Spitzer Legacy Science projects, designed to reveal how stars are formed in different types of galaxies, and to provide an atlas of galaxy images and spectra for future archival investigations. The Sombrero is one of 75 galaxies being observed by the survey team. In this image, blue-cyan corresponds to the Hubble visible-light view, while the Spitzer 3.6-4.5 micron light is green and 8.0 micron light is red. Starlight in this Spitzer image (measured at 3.6 microns) has been subtracted from the 8-micron image to enhance the visibility of the dust features. In figure 3, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has trained its sharp eye on one of the universe's most stately and photogenic galaxies, Messier 104. The galaxy's hallmark is a brilliant white, bulbous core encircled by the thick dust lanes comprising the spiral structure of the galaxy. As seen from Earth, the galaxy is tilted nearly edge-on. We view it from just six degrees north of its equatorial plane. This brilliant galaxy was named the Sombrero because in visible light it resembles a broad rimmed and high-topped Mexican hat. M104 is just beyond the limit of the naked eye, but is easily seen through small telescopes. It lies at the southern edge of the rich Virgo cluster of galaxies. It is one of the most massive objects in that group, equivalent to 800 billion suns. The galaxy is 50,000 light-years across and is located 28 million light-years from Earth. Hubble easily resolves M104's rich system of 2,000 globular clusters-believed to be 10 times as many as orbit our Milky Way galaxy. The ages of the clusters are similar to those of the clusters in the Milky Way, ranging from 10-13 billion years. A smaller disk is embedded in the bright core of M104, and is tilted relative to the large disk. X-ray emission hints that there is material falling into the compact core, where a black hole as massive as 1 billion suns resides. The Hubble Heritage Team took these observations in May-June 2003 with the space telescope's advanced camera for surveys. Images were taken in three filters (red, green, and blue), to yield a natural-color image. The team took six pictures of the galaxy and then stitched them together to create the final composite image. This magnificent galaxy has a diameter that is nearly one-fifth the diameter of the full Moon. The movie shifts from the well-known visible-light picture of Messier 104 taken by the Hubble Space Telescope to infrared views from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Messier (click on the browse image above for download option). |
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