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Galaxy Cluster Has Two 'Tail
…
Two spectacular tails of X-r
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01/22/10
| Description |
Two spectacular tails of X-ray emission have been seen trailing behind a galaxy using the Chandra X-ray Observatory. A composite image of the galaxy cluster Abell 3627 shows X-rays from Chandra in blue, optical emission in yellow and emission from hydrogen light -- known to astronomers as 'H-alpha' -- in red. The optical and H-alpha data were obtained with the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) Telescope in Chile. At the front of the tail is the galaxy ESO 137-001. The brighter of the two tails has been seen before and extends for about 260,000 light years. The detection of the second, fainter tail, however, was a surprise to the scientists. The X-ray tails were created when cool gas from ESO 137-001 (with a temperature of about ten degrees above absolute zero) was stripped by hot gas (about 100 million degrees) as it travels towards the center of the galaxy cluster Abell 3627. What astronomers observe with Chandra is essentially the evaporation of the cold gas, which glows at a temperature of about 10 million degrees. Evidence of gas with temperatures between 100 and 1,000 degrees Kelvin in the tail was also found with the Spitzer Space Telescope. Galaxy clusters are collections of hundreds or even thousands of galaxies held together by gravity that are enveloped in hot gas. The two-pronged tail in this system may have formed because gas has been stripped from the two major spiral arms in ESO 137-001. The stripping of gas is thought to have a significant effect on galaxy evolution, removing cold gas from the galaxy, shutting down the formation of new stars in the galaxy, and changing the appearance of inner spiral arms and bulges because of the effects of star formation. Image Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/UVa/M. Sun et al, H-alpha/Optical: SOAR/MSU/NOAO/UNC/CNPq-Brazil/M.Sun et al. |
| Date |
01/22/10 |
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Big Galaxy in Baby Universe
| Title |
Big Galaxy in Baby Universe |
| Description |
NASA's Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes combined forces to uncover one of the most distant galaxies ever seen. The faraway galaxy, named HUDF-JD2 (in green circles) is not seen in Hubble's visible-light image (upper right), but was detected using Hubble's near infrared camera and multi-object spectrometer (lower left). It appears even brighter at the longer infrared wavelengths, as revealed by the Spitzer infrared camera (lower right). At visible wavelengths, the light from the galaxy is absorbed by intervening hydrogen gas, and so the galaxy appears faint in the Hubble visible and near-infrared images. The surprise is how bright is appears to Spitzer in the infrared, suggesting a very massive and distant galaxy. |
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Big Galaxy in Baby Universe
| Title |
Big Galaxy in Baby Universe |
| Description |
NASA's Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes combined forces to uncover one of the most distant galaxies ever seen. The faraway galaxy, named HUDF-JD2 (in green circles) is not seen in Hubble's visible-light image (upper right), but was detected using Hubble's near infrared camera and multi-object spectrometer (lower left). It appears even brighter at the longer infrared wavelengths, as revealed by the Spitzer infrared camera (lower right). At visible wavelengths, the light from the galaxy is absorbed by intervening hydrogen gas, and so the galaxy appears faint in the Hubble visible and near-infrared images. The surprise is how bright is appears to Spitzer in the infrared, suggesting a very massive and distant galaxy. |
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Spitzer Digs Up Hidden Stars
| Title |
Spitzer Digs Up Hidden Stars |
| Description |
Two rambunctious young stars are destroying their natal dust cloud with powerful jets of radiation, in an infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The stars are located approximately 600 light-years away in a cosmic cloud called BHR 71. In visible light (left panel), BHR 71 is just a large black structure. The burst of yellow light toward the bottom of the cloud is the only indication that stars might be forming inside. In infrared light (center panel), the baby stars are shown as the bright yellow smudges toward the center. Both of these yellow spots have wisps of green shooting out of them. The green wisps reveal the beginning of a jet. Like a rainbow, the jet begins as green, then transitions to orange, and red toward the end. The combined visible-light and infrared composite (right panel) shows that a young star's powerful jet is responsible for the rupture at the bottom of the dense cloud in the visible-light image. Astronomers know this because burst of light in the visible-light image overlaps exactly with a jet spouting-out of the left star, in the infrared image. The jets' changing colors reveals a cooling effect, and may suggest that the young stars are spouting out radiation in regular bursts. The green tints at the beginning of the jet reveal really hot hydrogen gas, the orange shows warm gas, and the reddish wisps at the end represent the coolest gas. The fact that gas toward the beginning of the jet is hotter than gas near the middle suggests that the stars must give off regular bursts of energy -- and the material closest to the star is being heated by shockwaves from a recent stellar outburst. Meanwhile, the tints of orange reveal gas that is currently being heated by shockwaves from a previous stellar outburst. By the time these shockwaves reach the end of the jet, they have slowed down so significantly that the gas is only heated a little, and looks red. The combination of views also brings out some striking details that evaded visible-light detection. For example, the yellow dots scattered throughout the image are actually young stars forming inside BHR 71. Spitzer also uncovered another young star with jets, located to the right of the powerful jet seen in the visible-light image. Spitzer can see details that visible-light telescopes don't, because its infrared instruments are sensitive to "heat." The infrared image is made up of data from Spitzer's infrared array camera. Blue shows infrared light at 3.6 microns, green is light at 4.5 microns, and red is light at 8.0 microns. |
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Spitzer Digs Up Hidden Stars
| Title |
Spitzer Digs Up Hidden Stars |
| Description |
Two rambunctious young stars are destroying their natal dust cloud with powerful jets of radiation, in an infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The stars are located approximately 600 light-years away in a cosmic cloud called BHR 71. In visible light (left panel), BHR 71 is just a large black structure. The burst of yellow light toward the bottom of the cloud is the only indication that stars might be forming inside. In infrared light (center panel), the baby stars are shown as the bright yellow smudges toward the center. Both of these yellow spots have wisps of green shooting out of them. The green wisps reveal the beginning of a jet. Like a rainbow, the jet begins as green, then transitions to orange, and red toward the end. The combined visible-light and infrared composite (right panel) shows that a young star's powerful jet is responsible for the rupture at the bottom of the dense cloud in the visible-light image. Astronomers know this because burst of light in the visible-light image overlaps exactly with a jet spouting-out of the left star, in the infrared image. The jets' changing colors reveals a cooling effect, and may suggest that the young stars are spouting out radiation in regular bursts. The green tints at the beginning of the jet reveal really hot hydrogen gas, the orange shows warm gas, and the reddish wisps at the end represent the coolest gas. The fact that gas toward the beginning of the jet is hotter than gas near the middle suggests that the stars must give off regular bursts of energy -- and the material closest to the star is being heated by shockwaves from a recent stellar outburst. Meanwhile, the tints of orange reveal gas that is currently being heated by shockwaves from a previous stellar outburst. By the time these shockwaves reach the end of the jet, they have slowed down so significantly that the gas is only heated a little, and looks red. The combination of views also brings out some striking details that evaded visible-light detection. For example, the yellow dots scattered throughout the image are actually young stars forming inside BHR 71. Spitzer also uncovered another young star with jets, located to the right of the powerful jet seen in the visible-light image. Spitzer can see details that visible-light telescopes don't, because its infrared instruments are sensitive to "heat." The infrared image is made up of data from Spitzer's infrared array camera. Blue shows infrared light at 3.6 microns, green is light at 4.5 microns, and red is light at 8.0 microns. |
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Spitzer Digs Up Hidden Stars
| Title |
Spitzer Digs Up Hidden Stars |
| Description |
Two rambunctious young stars are destroying their natal dust cloud with powerful jets of radiation, in an infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The stars are located approximately 600 light-years away in a cosmic cloud called BHR 71. In visible light (left panel), BHR 71 is just a large black structure. The burst of yellow light toward the bottom of the cloud is the only indication that stars might be forming inside. In infrared light (center panel), the baby stars are shown as the bright yellow smudges toward the center. Both of these yellow spots have wisps of green shooting out of them. The green wisps reveal the beginning of a jet. Like a rainbow, the jet begins as green, then transitions to orange, and red toward the end. The combined visible-light and infrared composite (right panel) shows that a young star's powerful jet is responsible for the rupture at the bottom of the dense cloud in the visible-light image. Astronomers know this because burst of light in the visible-light image overlaps exactly with a jet spouting-out of the left star, in the infrared image. The jets' changing colors reveals a cooling effect, and may suggest that the young stars are spouting out radiation in regular bursts. The green tints at the beginning of the jet reveal really hot hydrogen gas, the orange shows warm gas, and the reddish wisps at the end represent the coolest gas. The fact that gas toward the beginning of the jet is hotter than gas near the middle suggests that the stars must give off regular bursts of energy -- and the material closest to the star is being heated by shockwaves from a recent stellar outburst. Meanwhile, the tints of orange reveal gas that is currently being heated by shockwaves from a previous stellar outburst. By the time these shockwaves reach the end of the jet, they have slowed down so significantly that the gas is only heated a little, and looks red. The combination of views also brings out some striking details that evaded visible-light detection. For example, the yellow dots scattered throughout the image are actually young stars forming inside BHR 71. Spitzer also uncovered another young star with jets, located to the right of the powerful jet seen in the visible-light image. Spitzer can see details that visible-light telescopes don't, because its infrared instruments are sensitive to "heat." The infrared image is made up of data from Spitzer's infrared array camera. Blue shows infrared light at 3.6 microns, green is light at 4.5 microns, and red is light at 8.0 microns. |
|
Spitzer Digs Up Hidden Stars
| Title |
Spitzer Digs Up Hidden Stars |
| Description |
Two rambunctious young stars are destroying their natal dust cloud with powerful jets of radiation, in an infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The stars are located approximately 600 light-years away in a cosmic cloud called BHR 71. In visible light (left panel), BHR 71 is just a large black structure. The burst of yellow light toward the bottom of the cloud is the only indication that stars might be forming inside. In infrared light (center panel), the baby stars are shown as the bright yellow smudges toward the center. Both of these yellow spots have wisps of green shooting out of them. The green wisps reveal the beginning of a jet. Like a rainbow, the jet begins as green, then transitions to orange, and red toward the end. The combined visible-light and infrared composite (right panel) shows that a young star's powerful jet is responsible for the rupture at the bottom of the dense cloud in the visible-light image. Astronomers know this because burst of light in the visible-light image overlaps exactly with a jet spouting-out of the left star, in the infrared image. The jets' changing colors reveals a cooling effect, and may suggest that the young stars are spouting out radiation in regular bursts. The green tints at the beginning of the jet reveal really hot hydrogen gas, the orange shows warm gas, and the reddish wisps at the end represent the coolest gas. The fact that gas toward the beginning of the jet is hotter than gas near the middle suggests that the stars must give off regular bursts of energy -- and the material closest to the star is being heated by shockwaves from a recent stellar outburst. Meanwhile, the tints of orange reveal gas that is currently being heated by shockwaves from a previous stellar outburst. By the time these shockwaves reach the end of the jet, they have slowed down so significantly that the gas is only heated a little, and looks red. The combination of views also brings out some striking details that evaded visible-light detection. For example, the yellow dots scattered throughout the image are actually young stars forming inside BHR 71. Spitzer also uncovered another young star with jets, located to the right of the powerful jet seen in the visible-light image. Spitzer can see details that visible-light telescopes don't, because its infrared instruments are sensitive to "heat." The infrared image is made up of data from Spitzer's infrared array camera. Blue shows infrared light at 3.6 microns, green is light at 4.5 microns, and red is light at 8.0 microns. |
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Spitzer and Hubble Team Up T
…
| Title |
Spitzer and Hubble Team Up To Find 'Big Baby' Galaxies in the Newborn Universe |
| Description |
This image demonstrates how data from two of NASA's Great Observatories, the Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes, are used to identify one of the most distant galaxies ever seen. This galaxy is unusually massive for its youthful age of 800 million years. (After the Big Bang, the Milky Way by comparison, is approximately 13 billion years old.) [Left] - The galaxy, named HUDF-JD2, was pinpointed among approximately 10,000 others in a small area of sky called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. This is the deepest images of the universe ever made at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. [Upper Right] - A blow-up of one small area of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field is used to identify where the distant galaxy is located (inside green circle). This indicates that the galaxy's visible light has been absorbed by traveling billions of light-years through intervening hydrogen. [Center Right] - The galaxy was detected using Hubble's near infrared camera and multi-object spectrometer. But at near-infrared wavelengths it is very faint and red. [Bottom Right] - The Spitzer infrared array camera, easily detects the galaxy at longer infrared wavelengths. The instrument is sensitive to the light from older, redder stars which should make up most of the mass in a galaxy. The brightness of the infrared galaxy suggests that it is quite massive. |
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Spitzer and Hubble Team Up T
…
| Title |
Spitzer and Hubble Team Up To Find 'Big Baby' Galaxies in the Newborn Universe |
| Description |
This image demonstrates how data from two of NASA's Great Observatories, the Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes, are used to identify one of the most distant galaxies ever seen. This galaxy is unusually massive for its youthful age of 800 million years. (After the Big Bang, the Milky Way by comparison, is approximately 13 billion years old.) [Left] - The galaxy, named HUDF-JD2, was pinpointed among approximately 10,000 others in a small area of sky called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. This is the deepest images of the universe ever made at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. [Upper Right] - A blow-up of one small area of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field is used to identify where the distant galaxy is located (inside green circle). This indicates that the galaxy's visible light has been absorbed by traveling billions of light-years through intervening hydrogen. [Center Right] - The galaxy was detected using Hubble's near infrared camera and multi-object spectrometer. But at near-infrared wavelengths it is very faint and red. [Bottom Right] - The Spitzer infrared array camera, easily detects the galaxy at longer infrared wavelengths. The instrument is sensitive to the light from older, redder stars which should make up most of the mass in a galaxy. The brightness of the infrared galaxy suggests that it is quite massive. |
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Spitzer and Hubble Team Up T
…
| Title |
Spitzer and Hubble Team Up To Find 'Big Baby' Galaxies in the Newborn Universe |
| Description |
This image demonstrates how data from two of NASA's Great Observatories, the Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes, are used to identify one of the most distant galaxies ever seen. This galaxy is unusually massive for its youthful age of 800 million years. (After the Big Bang, the Milky Way by comparison, is approximately 13 billion years old.) [Left] - The galaxy, named HUDF-JD2, was pinpointed among approximately 10,000 others in a small area of sky called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. This is the deepest images of the universe ever made at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. [Upper Right] - A blow-up of one small area of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field is used to identify where the distant galaxy is located (inside green circle). This indicates that the galaxy's visible light has been absorbed by traveling billions of light-years through intervening hydrogen. [Center Right] - The galaxy was detected using Hubble's near infrared camera and multi-object spectrometer. But at near-infrared wavelengths it is very faint and red. [Bottom Right] - The Spitzer infrared array camera, easily detects the galaxy at longer infrared wavelengths. The instrument is sensitive to the light from older, redder stars which should make up most of the mass in a galaxy. The brightness of the infrared galaxy suggests that it is quite massive. |
|
Spitzer and Hubble Team Up T
…
| Title |
Spitzer and Hubble Team Up To Find 'Big Baby' Galaxies in the Newborn Universe |
| Description |
This image demonstrates how data from two of NASA's Great Observatories, the Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes, are used to identify one of the most distant galaxies ever seen. This galaxy is unusually massive for its youthful age of 800 million years. (After the Big Bang, the Milky Way by comparison, is approximately 13 billion years old.) [Left] - The galaxy, named HUDF-JD2, was pinpointed among approximately 10,000 others in a small area of sky called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. This is the deepest images of the universe ever made at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. [Upper Right] - A blow-up of one small area of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field is used to identify where the distant galaxy is located (inside green circle). This indicates that the galaxy's visible light has been absorbed by traveling billions of light-years through intervening hydrogen. [Center Right] - The galaxy was detected using Hubble's near infrared camera and multi-object spectrometer. But at near-infrared wavelengths it is very faint and red. [Bottom Right] - The Spitzer infrared array camera, easily detects the galaxy at longer infrared wavelengths. The instrument is sensitive to the light from older, redder stars which should make up most of the mass in a galaxy. The brightness of the infrared galaxy suggests that it is quite massive. |
|
Spitzer and Hubble Team Up T
…
| Title |
Spitzer and Hubble Team Up To Find 'Big Baby' Galaxies in the Newborn Universe |
| Description |
This image demonstrates how data from two of NASA's Great Observatories, the Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes, are used to identify one of the most distant galaxies ever seen. This galaxy is unusually massive for its youthful age of 800 million years. (After the Big Bang, the Milky Way by comparison, is approximately 13 billion years old.) [Left] - The galaxy, named HUDF-JD2, was pinpointed among approximately 10,000 others in a small area of sky called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. This is the deepest images of the universe ever made at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. [Upper Right] - A blow-up of one small area of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field is used to identify where the distant galaxy is located (inside green circle). This indicates that the galaxy's visible light has been absorbed by traveling billions of light-years through intervening hydrogen. [Center Right] - The galaxy was detected using Hubble's near infrared camera and multi-object spectrometer. But at near-infrared wavelengths it is very faint and red. [Bottom Right] - The Spitzer infrared array camera, easily detects the galaxy at longer infrared wavelengths. The instrument is sensitive to the light from older, redder stars which should make up most of the mass in a galaxy. The brightness of the infrared galaxy suggests that it is quite massive. |
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The Mark of a Dying Star
| Title |
The Mark of a Dying Star |
| Description |
Six hundred and fifty light-years away in the constellation Aquarius, a dead star about the size of Earth, is refusing to fade away peacefully. In death, it is spewing out massive amounts of hot gas and intense ultraviolet radiation, creating a spectacular object called a "planetary nebula." In this false-color image, NASA's Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes have teamed up to capture the complex structure of the object, called the Helix nebula, in unprecedented detail. The composite picture is made up of visible data from Hubble and infrared data from Spitzer. The dead star, called a white dwarf, can be seen at the center of the image as a white dot. All of the colorful gaseous material seen in the image was once part of the central star, but was lost in the death throes of the star on its way to becoming a white dwarf. The intense ultraviolet radiation being released by the white dwarf is heating and destabilizing the molecules in its surrounding environment, starting from the inside out. Like an electric stovetop slowly heating up from the center first, the hottest and most unstable gas molecules can be seen at the center of the nebula as wisps of blue. The transition to more stable and cooler molecules is clearly depicted as the color of the gas changes from very hot (blue) to hot (yellow) and warm (red). A striking feature of the Helix, first revealed by ground-based images, is its collection of thousands of filamentary structures, or strands of gas. In this image the filaments can be seen under the transparent blue gas as red lines radiating out from the center. Astronomers believe that the molecules in these filaments are able to stay cooler and more stable because dense clumps of materials are shielding them from ultraviolet radiation. This image is a composite showing ionized H-alpha (green) and O III (blue) gases from the Hubble Space Telescope, and molecular hydrogen (red) from Spitzer observations at 4.5 and 8.0 microns. |
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The Mark of a Dying Star
| Title |
The Mark of a Dying Star |
| Description |
Six hundred and fifty light-years away in the constellation Aquarius, a dead star about the size of Earth, is refusing to fade away peacefully. In death, it is spewing out massive amounts of hot gas and intense ultraviolet radiation, creating a spectacular object called a "planetary nebula." In this false-color image, NASA's Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes have teamed up to capture the complex structure of the object, called the Helix nebula, in unprecedented detail. The composite picture is made up of visible data from Hubble and infrared data from Spitzer. The dead star, called a white dwarf, can be seen at the center of the image as a white dot. All of the colorful gaseous material seen in the image was once part of the central star, but was lost in the death throes of the star on its way to becoming a white dwarf. The intense ultraviolet radiation being released by the white dwarf is heating and destabilizing the molecules in its surrounding environment, starting from the inside out. Like an electric stovetop slowly heating up from the center first, the hottest and most unstable gas molecules can be seen at the center of the nebula as wisps of blue. The transition to more stable and cooler molecules is clearly depicted as the color of the gas changes from very hot (blue) to hot (yellow) and warm (red). A striking feature of the Helix, first revealed by ground-based images, is its collection of thousands of filamentary structures, or strands of gas. In this image the filaments can be seen under the transparent blue gas as red lines radiating out from the center. Astronomers believe that the molecules in these filaments are able to stay cooler and more stable because dense clumps of materials are shielding them from ultraviolet radiation. This image is a composite showing ionized H-alpha (green) and O III (blue) gases from the Hubble Space Telescope, and molecular hydrogen (red) from Spitzer observations at 4.5 and 8.0 microns. |
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The Tarantula Nebula
| Title |
The Tarantula Nebula |
| Description |
NASA's new Spitzer Space Telescope has captured in stunning detail the spidery filaments and newborn stars of the Tarantula Nebula, a rich star-forming region also known as 30 Doradus. In this animation the infrared structures seen by this new observatory are compared with a visible light image from the ground-based European Southern Observatory (ESO) to highlight the power of Spitzer to see what other telescopes cannot. Starting with the ESO visible-light image, the spider-like filaments that inspired this nebula's name fill the view. The pinkish color in this image originates from the gas, mostly hydrogen heated to high temperatures by the many brilliant young stars. Dark swaths cutting through this region suggest the sooty, dense dust clouds that fuel star formation. Zooming into one dust lane at the upper right side of the nebula, the transition to the infrared view reveals a streamer of bright red emission from a visually dark cloud. Here, and throughout the nebula, these red filaments reveal the presence of molecular material thought to be rich in hydrocarbons, a Spitzer finding highlighting a previously unseen aspect of this nebula. Green indicate the hottest regions of gas, coming from the same hydrogen gas that produces the visible light. Moving down and around the heart of the Tarantula, the lower cavity of the nebula moves into view. Dense pillars of gas line the edge of this opening, looking almost like teeth around a mouth. In visible light the outer surfaces of these pillars glow brilliantly while the infrared view reveals a more complex structure. The green outer surfaces trace the surrounding hot gas while red filaments expose the dense, buried cloud cores, almost like a dentist's X-ray probing hidden roots within the teeth. Finally, pulling back to see the entire nebula, the striking differences and similarities between the visible and infrared images are clear. By expanding our view beyond the limits of visible light we can see otherwise invisible dust clouds and hidden stars that greatly enhance our understanding of the Tarantula Nebula. |
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Huygens Landing Site
| Description |
Huygens landing site |
| Full Description |
This image provides a comparison between the Huygens landing site on Titan as viewed by the Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) and the NACO/SDI instrument mounted on the 8-meter Yepun telescope of the VLT (Very Large Telescope) station, in Chile. From the two images it is possible to see a high consistency between the two measurements. The Cassini image - taken in the near-infrared (938 nanometers)- shows the Huygens landing site map wrapped around Titan, rotated to the same position as the January 2005 NACO/SDI observations. The colored lines outline the regions that were imaged by Cassini at different resolutions. The lower-resolution imaging sequences are outlined in blue. Other areas have been specifically targeted to build moderate and high-resolution mosaics of surface features. These include the site where the Huygens probe has touched down on Jan. 14, 2005 (marked with the yellow X), and located at a latitude of 10.3° south and a longitude of 192.32° west (or 167.7° east). The landing site is located on the boundary between the bright region called Adiri and the dark one called Shangri-la. The red color on the NACO/SDI image corresponds to an atmospheric filter at 1.625 micron, while the blue color corresponds to a filter for the surface at 1.600 and 1.575 micron. *Credits:* NASA/JPL/Cassini-ISS/Space Science Institute and ESO/NACO-SDI/VLT |
| Date |
March 5, 2007 |
|
Pluto and Charon
| title |
Pluto and Charon |
| date |
02.21.1994 |
| description |
This is the clearest view yet of the distant planet Pluto and its moon, Charon, as revealed by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The image was taken by the European Space Agency's Faint Object Camera on February 21, 1994 when the planet was 4.4 billion kilometers (2.6 billion miles) from Earth, or nearly 30 times the separation between Earth and the Sun. Hubble's corrected optics show the two objects as clearly separate and sharp disks. This now allows astronomers to measure directly (to within about 1 percent) Pluto's diameter of 1440 miles (2320 kilometers) and Charon's diameter of 790 miles (1270 kilometers). The Hubble observations show that Charon is bluer than Pluto. This means that both worlds have different surface composition and structure. A bright highlight on Pluto suggests it has a smoothly reflecting surface layer. A detailed analysis of the Hubble image also suggests there is a bright area parallel to the equator on Pluto. This result is consistent with surface brightness models based on previous ground-based photometric observations. However, subsequent HST observations will be required to confirm whether the feature is real. Though Pluto was discovered in 1930, Charon wasn't detected until 1978. That is because the moon is so close to Pluto that the two worlds are typically blurred together when viewed through ground-based telescopes. (If our moon were as close to Earth, it would be as big in the night sky as an apple held at arm's length). The new HST image was taken when Charon was near its maximum elongation from Pluto of .9 arc seconds. The two worlds are 12,200 miles apart (19,640 kilometers). Hubble's ability to distinguish Pluto's disk at a distance of 2.6 billion miles (4.4 billion kilometers) is equivalent to seeing a baseball at a distance of 40 miles (64 kilometers). Pluto typically is called the double planet because Charon is half the diameter of Pluto (our Moon is one-quarter the diameter of Earth). *Image Credit*: Dr. R. Albrecht, ESA/ESO Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility, NASA |
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Titan in Detail
| title |
Titan in Detail |
| description |
New images of unsurpassed clarity have been obtained with the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) of formations on the surface of Titan, the largest moon in the Saturnian system. They were made by an international research team [1] during recent commissioning observations with the "Simultaneous Differential Imager (SDI)", a novel optical device, just installed at the NACO Adaptive Optics instrument. The images show a number of surface regions with very different reflectivity. Of particular interest are several large "dark" areas of uniformly low reflectivity. One possible interpretation is that they represent huge surface reservoirs of liquid hydrocarbons. These views of Titan, obtained on six nights in February 2004. At the right, the image from the first night (Feburary 1-2, 2004) has been enlarged for clarity and the coordinate grid on Titan is indicated. The images are false-colour renderings with the three SDI wavebands as red (1.575 ?m, surface), green (1.600 ?m, surface) and blue (1.625 ?m, atmosphere), respectively. *Image Credit*: European Southern Observatory |
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Near-Infrared Uranus and Moo
…
| title |
Near-Infrared Uranus and Moons (Unlabeled) |
| date |
11.19.2002 |
| description |
This photo shows a near-infrared view of the giant planet Uranus with rings and some of its moons, obtained on November 19, 2002, with the ISAAC multi-mode instrument on the 8.2-m VLT ANTU telescope at the ESO Paranal Observatory (Chile). From top to bottom, the moons are Titania, Umbriel, Portia, Miranda, Puck and Ariel. The unidentified, round object to the left is a background star. *Image Credit*: ESO |
|
Uranus and Moons (Labeled)
| title |
Uranus and Moons (Labeled) |
| date |
11.19.2002 |
| description |
This European Southern Observatoryimage show Uranus and several of its moons in near-infrared. From top to bottom, the moons are Titania, Umbriel, Portia, Miranda, Puck and Ariel. The unidentified, round object to the left is a background star. The image scale in indicated by the bar. *Image Credit*: European Southern Observatory |
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ESO Optical Image of Westerl
…
| Name |
ESO Optical Image of Westerlund 1 |
|
Centaurus A Animations
| Name |
Centaurus A Animations |
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Chandra X-ray Image of RDCS
…
| Name |
Chandra X-ray Image of RDCS 1252.9-2927 |
|
VLT Optical & Near-Infrared
…
| Name |
VLT Optical & Near-Infrared Image of RDCS 1252.9-2927 |
|
HST Optical Image of RDCS 12
…
| Name |
HST Optical Image of RDCS 1252.9-2927 |
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Chandra 3-Color X-ray Image
…
| Name |
Chandra 3-Color X-ray Image of RDCS 1252.9-2927 |
|
X-ray/Optical/Lensing Map Co
…
| Name |
X-ray/Optical/Lensing Map Composites of 1E 0657-56 |
|
Westerlund 1 Animations
| Name |
Westerlund 1 Animations |
|
1E 0657-56 Animations
| Name |
1E 0657-56 Animations |
|
Chandra & VLT Image of M83
| Name |
Chandra & VLT Image of M83 |
|
Into the Milky Way: Quintupl
…
| Name |
Into the Milky Way: Quintuplet Cluster |
|
Chandra X-ray Image of ESO 1
…
| Name |
Chandra X-ray Image of ESO 137-001 and Tail in Abell 3627 |
|
H-alpha Image of ESO 137-001
…
| Name |
H-alpha Image of ESO 137-001 and Tail in Abell 3627 |
|
XMM-Newton X-ray Image of Ab
…
| Name |
XMM-Newton X-ray Image of Abell 3627 |
|
Optical Image of ESO 137-001
…
| Name |
Optical Image of ESO 137-001 in Abell 3627 |
|
Chandra X-ray Image with Opt
…
| Name |
Chandra X-ray Image with Optical Contours of McNeil's Nebula |
|
Optical Image of RX J1242-11
| Name |
Optical Image of RX J1242-11 |
|
Optical Image of 1E 0657-56
| Name |
Optical Image of 1E 0657-56 |
|
Optical Image with X-ray Con
…
| Name |
Optical Image with X-ray Contours |
|
RDCS 1252.9-2927: A Distant
…
| Name |
RDCS 1252.9-2927: A Distant Galaxy Cluster |
| Category |
Groups & Clusters of Galaxies |
| Release Date |
January 2, 2004 |
|
X-ray, IR & Radio Composite
…
| Name |
X-ray, IR & Radio Composite Images of Quintuplet Cluster |
|
Hubble Infrared Images of Qu
…
| Name |
Hubble Infrared Images of Quintuplet Cluster |
|
Image is 7 arcmin on a side.
…
| Name |
Image is 7 arcmin on a side., Orion Nebula Infrared |
|
CXO 0312 Fiore P3: A Possibl
…
| Name |
CXO 0312 Fiore P3: A Possible Type 2 Quasar Veiled Black Hole |
| Category |
Quasars & Active Galaxies |
| Release Date |
April 03, 2000 |
|
NGC 253: Chandra Sees Wealth
…
| Name |
NGC 253: Chandra Sees Wealth Of Black Holes In Star-Forming Galaxies |
| Category |
Normal Galaxies & Starburst Galaxies |
| Release Date |
June 05, 2001 |
|
Abell 3627 Animations
| Name |
Abell 3627 Animations |
|
Ground-based Optical Image o
…
| Name |
Ground-based Optical Image of 47 Tucanae |
|
|
