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Mysterious Blob Galaxies Rev …
Title Mysterious Blob Galaxies Revealed
Description This image composite shows a giant galactic blob (red, left) and the three merging galaxies NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope discovered within it (yellow, right). Blobs are intensely glowing clouds of hot hydrogen gas that envelop faraway galaxies. They are about 10 times as large as the galaxies they surround. Visible-light images like the one shown here (left), reveal the vast extent of blobs, but don't provide much information about their host galaxies. Using its heat-seeking infrared eyes, Spitzer was able to see the dusty galaxies tucked inside one well-known blob located 11 billion light-years away. The findings reveal three monstrously bright galaxies, trillions of times brighter than the Sun, in the process of merging together (right). Spitzer also observed three other blobs located in the same cosmic neighborhood, all of which were found to be glaringly bright. One of these blobs is also known to be a galactic merger, only between two galaxies instead of three. It remains to be seen whether the final two blobs studied also contain mergers. The Spitzer data were acquired by its multiband imaging photometer. The visible-light image was taken by the Blanco Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile.
Mysterious Blob Galaxies Rev …
Title Mysterious Blob Galaxies Revealed
Description This image composite shows a giant galactic blob (red, left) and the three merging galaxies NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope discovered within it (yellow, right). Blobs are intensely glowing clouds of hot hydrogen gas that envelop faraway galaxies. They are about 10 times as large as the galaxies they surround. Visible-light images like the one shown here (left), reveal the vast extent of blobs, but don't provide much information about their host galaxies. Using its heat-seeking infrared eyes, Spitzer was able to see the dusty galaxies tucked inside one well-known blob located 11 billion light-years away. The findings reveal three monstrously bright galaxies, trillions of times brighter than the Sun, in the process of merging together (right). Spitzer also observed three other blobs located in the same cosmic neighborhood, all of which were found to be glaringly bright. One of these blobs is also known to be a galactic merger, only between two galaxies instead of three. It remains to be seen whether the final two blobs studied also contain mergers. The Spitzer data were acquired by its multiband imaging photometer. The visible-light image was taken by the Blanco Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile.
Mysterious Blob Galaxies Rev …
Title Mysterious Blob Galaxies Revealed
Description This image composite shows a giant galactic blob (red, left) and the three merging galaxies NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope discovered within it (yellow, right). Blobs are intensely glowing clouds of hot hydrogen gas that envelop faraway galaxies. They are about 10 times as large as the galaxies they surround. Visible-light images like the one shown here (left), reveal the vast extent of blobs, but don't provide much information about their host galaxies. Using its heat-seeking infrared eyes, Spitzer was able to see the dusty galaxies tucked inside one well-known blob located 11 billion light-years away. The findings reveal three monstrously bright galaxies, trillions of times brighter than the Sun, in the process of merging together (right). Spitzer also observed three other blobs located in the same cosmic neighborhood, all of which were found to be glaringly bright. One of these blobs is also known to be a galactic merger, only between two galaxies instead of three. It remains to be seen whether the final two blobs studied also contain mergers. The Spitzer data were acquired by its multiband imaging photometer. The visible-light image was taken by the Blanco Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile.
Perseus' Stellar Neighbors
Title Perseus' Stellar Neighbors
Description Baby stars are forming near the eastern rim of the cosmic cloud Perseus, in this infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The baby stars are approximately three million years old and are shown as reddish-pink dots to the right of the image. The pinkish color indicates that these infant stars are still shrouded by the cosmic dust and gas that collapsed to form them. These stars are part of the IC348 star cluster, which consists of over 300 known member stars. The Perseus Nebula can be seen as the large green cloud at the center of the image. Wisps of green are organic molecules called Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) that have been illuminated by the nearby star formation. Meanwhile, wisps of orange-red are dust particles warmed by the newly forming stars. The Perseus Nebula is located about 1,043 light-years away in the Perseus constellation. The image is a three channel false color composite, where emission at 4.5 microns is blue, emission at 8.0 microns is green, and 24-micron emission is red.
Seeing Stars in Serpens
Title Seeing Stars in Serpens
Description Infant stars are glowing gloriously in this infrared image of the Serpens star-forming region, captured by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The reddish-pink dots are baby stars deeply embedded in the cosmic cloud of gas and dust that collapsed to create it. A dusty disk of cosmic debris, or "protoplanetary disk," that may eventually form planets, surrounds the infant stars. Wisps of green throughout the image indicate the presence of carbon rich molecules called, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs). On Earth, PAHs can be found on charred barbecue grills and in automobile exhaust. Blue specks sprinkled throughout the image are background stars in our Milky Way Galaxy. The Serpens star-forming region is located approximately 848 light-years away in the Serpens constellation. The image is a three-channel false-color composite, where emission at 4.5 microns is blue, emission at 8.0 microns is green, and 24 micron emission is red.
Stellar Families
Title Stellar Families
Description Human families may be bonded by blood, but stellar families are united by gravity. A family of stars, or star cluster, can contain hundreds or thousands of members. In this image, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope spots the Serpens South star cluster, which consists of a relatively dense group of 50 young stars -- 35 of which are protostars, or stellar infants, that are just beginning to form. Stellar members of Serpens South star cluster can be seen as the green, yellow, and orange tinted specks sitting atop the black dust lane running down the center of the image. Like raindrops, stars form when thick patches of cosmic clouds condense. Tints of green in the image represent hot hydrogen gas excited when high-speed jets of gas ejected by infant stars collide with the cool gas in the surrounding cloud. Wisps of red in the background are organic molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are being excited by stellar radiation from a neighboring star-forming region located to the east of this image, called W40. On Earth PAHs are found on charred barbeque grills and in the sooty automobile exhaust. This Spitzer picture is composed of three images taken with the telescope's Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) at 3.6 (blue), 4.5 (green), and 5.8 (red) microns.
The Starless Core That Isn't
Title The Starless Core That Isn't
Description The "Cores to Disks" Spitzer Legacy team is using the two infrared cameras on NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to search dense regions of interstellar molecular clouds (known as "cores") for evidence of star formation. Part of the study targeted a group of objects with no known stars to study the properties of such regions before any stars have formed. The first of these "starless cores" to be examined held a surprise: a source of infrared light appeared where none was expected. The core is known as L1014, the 1,014th object in a list of dark, dusty "clouds" compiled by astronomer Beverly Lynds over 40 years ago. These have proved to be homes to a rich variety of molecules and are the birthplaces of stars and planets. The Spitzer image is a 3.6 micron (blue), 8.0 micron (green) and 24.0 micron (red) composite image. The light seen in the infrared image originates from very different sources. The bright yellow object at the center of the image is the object detected in the "starless core". The red ring surrounding the object is an artifact of the reduced spatial resolution of the telescope at 24 microns. At 3.6 microns the light comes mainly from the object at the heart of the core. At longer wavelengths, the light from the object becomes stronger, a signature that it is not a background star. Also in the longer wavelengths (8.0 to 24.0 microns), astronomers saw the glow from interstellar dust, glowing green to red in the Spitzer composite image. This dust consists mainly of a variety of carbon-based organic molecules known collectively as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The red color traces a cooler dust component. No previous observations showed any hint of a source in L1014. For example, the visible light image is from the Digital Sky Survey and is a B-, R-, and I-band composite image (wavelengths ranging from 0.4 to 0.7 microns). The dark cloud in the center of the image is the core, completely opaque in the visible due to obscuration by dust. The L1014 core lies in the direction of Cygnus. It is thought to be about 600 light years away, but the distance is somewhat uncertain. The results from this study are published by C. Young and the "Cores to Disks" team in the Astrophysical Journal.
The Starless Core That Isn't
Title The Starless Core That Isn't
Description The "Cores to Disks" Spitzer Legacy team is using the two infrared cameras on NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to search dense regions of interstellar molecular clouds (known as "cores") for evidence of star formation. Part of the study targeted a group of objects with no known stars to study the properties of such regions before any stars have formed. The first of these "starless cores" to be examined held a surprise: a source of infrared light appeared where none was expected. The core is known as L1014, the 1,014th object in a list of dark, dusty "clouds" compiled by astronomer Beverly Lynds over 40 years ago. These have proved to be homes to a rich variety of molecules and are the birthplaces of stars and planets. The Spitzer image is a 3.6 micron (blue), 8.0 micron (green) and 24.0 micron (red) composite image. The light seen in the infrared image originates from very different sources. The bright yellow object at the center of the image is the object detected in the "starless core". The red ring surrounding the object is an artifact of the reduced spatial resolution of the telescope at 24 microns. At 3.6 microns the light comes mainly from the object at the heart of the core. At longer wavelengths, the light from the object becomes stronger, a signature that it is not a background star. Also in the longer wavelengths (8.0 to 24.0 microns), astronomers saw the glow from interstellar dust, glowing green to red in the Spitzer composite image. This dust consists mainly of a variety of carbon-based organic molecules known collectively as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The red color traces a cooler dust component. No previous observations showed any hint of a source in L1014. For example, the visible light image is from the Digital Sky Survey and is a B-, R-, and I-band composite image (wavelengths ranging from 0.4 to 0.7 microns). The dark cloud in the center of the image is the core, completely opaque in the visible due to obscuration by dust. The L1014 core lies in the direction of Cygnus. It is thought to be about 600 light years away, but the distance is somewhat uncertain. The results from this study are published by C. Young and the "Cores to Disks" team in the Astrophysical Journal.
The Starless Core That Isn't
Title The Starless Core That Isn't
Description The "Cores to Disks" Spitzer Legacy team is using the two infrared cameras on NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to search dense regions of interstellar molecular clouds (known as "cores") for evidence of star formation. Part of the study targeted a group of objects with no known stars to study the properties of such regions before any stars have formed. The first of these "starless cores" to be examined held a surprise: a source of infrared light appeared where none was expected. The core is known as L1014, the 1,014th object in a list of dark, dusty "clouds" compiled by astronomer Beverly Lynds over 40 years ago. These have proved to be homes to a rich variety of molecules and are the birthplaces of stars and planets. The Spitzer image is a 3.6 micron (blue), 8.0 micron (green) and 24.0 micron (red) composite image. The light seen in the infrared image originates from very different sources. The bright yellow object at the center of the image is the object detected in the "starless core". The red ring surrounding the object is an artifact of the reduced spatial resolution of the telescope at 24 microns. At 3.6 microns the light comes mainly from the object at the heart of the core. At longer wavelengths, the light from the object becomes stronger, a signature that it is not a background star. Also in the longer wavelengths (8.0 to 24.0 microns), astronomers saw the glow from interstellar dust, glowing green to red in the Spitzer composite image. This dust consists mainly of a variety of carbon-based organic molecules known collectively as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The red color traces a cooler dust component. No previous observations showed any hint of a source in L1014. For example, the visible light image is from the Digital Sky Survey and is a B-, R-, and I-band composite image (wavelengths ranging from 0.4 to 0.7 microns). The dark cloud in the center of the image is the core, completely opaque in the visible due to obscuration by dust. The L1014 core lies in the direction of Cygnus. It is thought to be about 600 light years away, but the distance is somewhat uncertain. The results from this study are published by C. Young and the "Cores to Disks" team in the Astrophysical Journal.
Astronomers Ponder Lack of P …
Title Astronomers Ponder Lack of Planets in Globular Cluster
Astronomers Ponder Lack of P …
Title Astronomers Ponder Lack of Planets in Globular Cluster
Astronomers Ponder Lack of P …
Title Astronomers Ponder Lack of Planets in Globular Cluster
Astronomers Ponder Lack of P …
Title Astronomers Ponder Lack of Planets in Globular Cluster
Hubble Reveals the Heart of …
Title Hubble Reveals the Heart of the Whirlpool Galaxy
General Information What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]
Hubble Discovers Black Holes …
Title Hubble Discovers Black Holes in Unexpected Places
General Information What is a Space Science Update? Major Hubble discoveries on NASA television ... Astronomers explain their Hubble discoveries at a press conference, called a Space Science Update (SSU), broadcast on NASA television. The SSU includes a question and answer session with members of the media. Back to top [ #top ]
Hubble Discovers Black Holes …
Title Hubble Discovers Black Holes in Unexpected Places
General Information What is a Space Science Update? Major Hubble discoveries on NASA television ... Astronomers explain their Hubble discoveries at a press conference, called a Space Science Update (SSU), broadcast on NASA television. The SSU includes a question and answer session with members of the media. Back to top [ #top ]
Hubble Discovers Black Holes …
Title Hubble Discovers Black Holes in Unexpected Places
General Information What is a Space Science Update? Major Hubble discoveries on NASA television ... Astronomers explain their Hubble discoveries at a press conference, called a Space Science Update (SSU), broadcast on NASA television. The SSU includes a question and answer session with members of the media. Back to top [ #top ]
Hubble Discovers Black Holes …
Title Hubble Discovers Black Holes in Unexpected Places
General Information What is a Space Science Update? Major Hubble discoveries on NASA television ... Astronomers explain their Hubble discoveries at a press conference, called a Space Science Update (SSU), broadcast on NASA television. The SSU includes a question and answer session with members of the media. Back to top [ #top ]
Hubble Discovers Black Holes …
Title Hubble Discovers Black Holes in Unexpected Places
General Information What is a Space Science Update? Major Hubble discoveries on NASA television ... Astronomers explain their Hubble discoveries at a press conference, called a Space Science Update (SSU), broadcast on NASA television. The SSU includes a question and answer session with members of the media. Back to top [ #top ]
Hubble Discovers Black Holes …
Title Hubble Discovers Black Holes in Unexpected Places
General Information What is a Space Science Update? Major Hubble discoveries on NASA television ... Astronomers explain their Hubble discoveries at a press conference, called a Space Science Update (SSU), broadcast on NASA television. The SSU includes a question and answer session with members of the media. Back to top [ #top ]
Hubble Discovers Black Holes …
Title Hubble Discovers Black Holes in Unexpected Places
General Information What is a Space Science Update? Major Hubble discoveries on NASA television ... Astronomers explain their Hubble discoveries at a press conference, called a Space Science Update (SSU), broadcast on NASA television. The SSU includes a question and answer session with members of the media. Back to top [ #top ]
Hubble Discovers Black Holes …
Title Hubble Discovers Black Holes in Unexpected Places
General Information What is a Space Science Update? Major Hubble discoveries on NASA television ... Astronomers explain their Hubble discoveries at a press conference, called a Space Science Update (SSU), broadcast on NASA television. The SSU includes a question and answer session with members of the media. Back to top [ #top ]
Hubble Discovers Black Holes …
Title Hubble Discovers Black Holes in Unexpected Places
General Information What is a Space Science Update? Major Hubble discoveries on NASA television ... Astronomers explain their Hubble discoveries at a press conference, called a Space Science Update (SSU), broadcast on NASA television. The SSU includes a question and answer session with members of the media. Back to top [ #top ]
Hubble Discovers Black Holes …
Title Hubble Discovers Black Holes in Unexpected Places
General Information What is a Space Science Update? Major Hubble discoveries on NASA television ... Astronomers explain their Hubble discoveries at a press conference, called a Space Science Update (SSU), broadcast on NASA television. The SSU includes a question and answer session with members of the media. Back to top [ #top ]
Hubble Observations Confirm …
Title Hubble Observations Confirm that Planets Form from Disks Around Stars
Hubble Observations Confirm …
Title Hubble Observations Confirm that Planets Form from Disks Around Stars
Hubble Finds Mysterious Disk …
Title Hubble Finds Mysterious Disk of Blue Stars Around Black Hole
Hubble Finds Mysterious Disk …
Title Hubble Finds Mysterious Disk of Blue Stars Around Black Hole
Hubble Finds Mysterious Disk …
Title Hubble Finds Mysterious Disk of Blue Stars Around Black Hole
Hubble Finds Mysterious Disk …
Title Hubble Finds Mysterious Disk of Blue Stars Around Black Hole
Hubble Finds Mysterious Disk …
Title Hubble Finds Mysterious Disk of Blue Stars Around Black Hole
Hubble Finds Mysterious Disk …
Title Hubble Finds Mysterious Disk of Blue Stars Around Black Hole
Hubble Finds Mysterious Disk …
Title Hubble Finds Mysterious Disk of Blue Stars Around Black Hole
Hubble Finds Mysterious Disk …
Title Hubble Finds Mysterious Disk of Blue Stars Around Black Hole
Hubble Finds Mysterious Disk …
Title Hubble Finds Mysterious Disk of Blue Stars Around Black Hole
Hubble Yields Direct Proof o …
Title Hubble Yields Direct Proof of Stellar Sorting in a Globular Cluster
Hubble Yields Direct Proof o …
Title Hubble Yields Direct Proof of Stellar Sorting in a Globular Cluster
Hubble Yields Direct Proof o …
Title Hubble Yields Direct Proof of Stellar Sorting in a Globular Cluster
SN 2005ap: The Brightest Sup …
Title SN 2005ap: The Brightest Supernova Yet Found
Explanation What could cause a bang this big? This supernova explosion [ http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/snr.html ] was so inherently bright that it could be seen nearly 5 billion light years [ http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/question19.html ] away (a redshift [ http://astsun.astro.virginia.edu/~jh8h/glossary/redshift.htm ] of 0.28) even with a small telescope. Specific colors emitted during SN 2005ap [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007arXiv0709.0302Q ] indicate that it was a Type II supernova [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_II_supernova ], a breed of stellar explosion that results when a high mass star begins fusing [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fusion ] heavy elements in or near its core. Type II supernovas [ http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/bmendez/ay10/2000/cycle/snII.html ] may be more powerful than their Type Ia cousins [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_Ia_supernova ], but they are not currently more useful cosmologically because astronomers [ http://www.ehow.com/how_14282_become-astronomer.html ] don't understand how to accurately recover their intrinsic brightnesses [ http://astsun.astro.virginia.edu/~teacha/130_manual/node30.html ]. It is therefore dimmer Type Ia supernova [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgfbjHz_UTo ]s that are used by astronomers to calibrate the distance scale [ http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/redshift.html ] of the nearby universe. Were Type II supernova [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova ] better understood, astronomers might be able to probe distances [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061224.html ] further into the universe, and so probe the stability of the strange dark energy [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_energy ] that dominates the present universe. Pictured above [ http://mcdonaldobservatory.org/news/releases/2007/1010.html ] in a digitally compressed image, the bright supernova SN 2005ap is visible on the right where no exploding star had been seen on the left less than three months before.
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