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Images of Large Magellanic Cloud and Milky Way Galaxy
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Our Chaotic Neighbor
| Title |
Our Chaotic Neighbor |
| Description |
This vibrant image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy to our own Milky Way galaxy. The infrared image, a mosaic of more than 100,000 individual tiles, offers astronomers a unique chance to study the lifecycle of stars and dust in a single galaxy. Nearly one million objects are revealed for the first time in this Spitzer view, which represents about a 1,000-fold improvement in sensitivity over previous space-based missions. Most of the new objects are dusty stars of various ages populating the Large Magellanic Cloud, the rest are thought to be background galaxies. The blue color in the picture, seen most prominently in the central bar, represents starlight from older stars. The chaotic, bright regions outside this bar are filled with hot, massive stars buried in thick blankets of dust. The red clouds contain cooler interstellar gas and molecular-sized dust grains illuminated by ambient starlight. The Large Magellanic Cloud, located 160,000 light-years from Earth, is one of a handful of dwarf galaxies that orbit our own Milky Way. It is approximately one-third as wide as the Milky Way, and, if it could be seen in its entirety, would cover the same amount of sky as a grid of about 480 full moons. About one-third of the whole galaxy can be seen in the Spitzer image. This picture is a composite of infrared light captured by Spitzer's infrared array camera. Light with wavelengths of 8 and 5.8 microns is red and orange: 4.5-micron light is green, and 3.6-micron light is blue. |
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Our Chaotic Neighbor
| Title |
Our Chaotic Neighbor |
| Description |
This vibrant image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy to our own Milky Way galaxy. The infrared image, a mosaic of more than 100,000 individual tiles, offers astronomers a unique chance to study the lifecycle of stars and dust in a single galaxy. Nearly one million objects are revealed for the first time in this Spitzer view, which represents about a 1,000-fold improvement in sensitivity over previous space-based missions. Most of the new objects are dusty stars of various ages populating the Large Magellanic Cloud, the rest are thought to be background galaxies. The blue color in the picture, seen most prominently in the central bar, represents starlight from older stars. The chaotic, bright regions outside this bar are filled with hot, massive stars buried in thick blankets of dust. The red clouds contain cooler interstellar gas and molecular-sized dust grains illuminated by ambient starlight. The Large Magellanic Cloud, located 160,000 light-years from Earth, is one of a handful of dwarf galaxies that orbit our own Milky Way. It is approximately one-third as wide as the Milky Way, and, if it could be seen in its entirety, would cover the same amount of sky as a grid of about 480 full moons. About one-third of the whole galaxy can be seen in the Spitzer image. This picture is a composite of infrared light captured by Spitzer's infrared array camera. Light with wavelengths of 8 and 5.8 microns is red and orange: 4.5-micron light is green, and 3.6-micron light is blue. |
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Our Chaotic Neighbor
| Title |
Our Chaotic Neighbor |
| Description |
This vibrant image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy to our own Milky Way galaxy. The infrared image, a mosaic of more than 100,000 individual tiles, offers astronomers a unique chance to study the lifecycle of stars and dust in a single galaxy. Nearly one million objects are revealed for the first time in this Spitzer view, which represents about a 1,000-fold improvement in sensitivity over previous space-based missions. Most of the new objects are dusty stars of various ages populating the Large Magellanic Cloud, the rest are thought to be background galaxies. The blue color in the picture, seen most prominently in the central bar, represents starlight from older stars. The chaotic, bright regions outside this bar are filled with hot, massive stars buried in thick blankets of dust. The red clouds contain cooler interstellar gas and molecular-sized dust grains illuminated by ambient starlight. The Large Magellanic Cloud, located 160,000 light-years from Earth, is one of a handful of dwarf galaxies that orbit our own Milky Way. It is approximately one-third as wide as the Milky Way, and, if it could be seen in its entirety, would cover the same amount of sky as a grid of about 480 full moons. About one-third of the whole galaxy can be seen in the Spitzer image. This picture is a composite of infrared light captured by Spitzer's infrared array camera. Light with wavelengths of 8 and 5.8 microns is red and orange: 4.5-micron light is green, and 3.6-micron light is blue. |
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What's Old Is New in the Lar
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| Title |
What's Old Is New in the Large Magellanic Cloud |
| Description |
This vibrant image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy to our own Milky Way galaxy. The infrared image, a mosaic of 300,000 individual tiles, offers astronomers a unique chance to study the lifecycle of stars and dust in a single galaxy. Nearly one million objects are revealed for the first time in this Spitzer view, which represents about a 1,000-fold improvement in sensitivity over previous space-based missions. Most of the new objects are dusty stars of various ages populating the Large Magellanic Cloud, the rest are thought to be background galaxies. The blue color in the picture, seen most prominently in the central bar, represents starlight from older stars. The chaotic, bright regions outside this bar are filled with hot, massive stars buried in thick blankets of dust. The red color around these bright regions is from dust heated by stars, while the red dots scattered throughout the picture are either dusty, old stars or more distant galaxies. The greenish clouds contain cooler interstellar gas and molecular-sized dust grains illuminated by ambient starlight. Astronomers say this image allows them to quantify the process by which space dust ? the same stuff that makes up planets and even people ? is recycled in a galaxy. The picture shows dust at its three main cosmic hangouts: around the young stars, where it is being consumed (red-tinted, bright clouds), scattered about in the space between stars (greenish clouds), and in expelled shells of material from old stars (randomly-spaced red dots). The Large Magellanic Cloud, located 160,000 light-years from Earth, is one of a handful of dwarf galaxies that orbit our own Milky Way. It is approximately one-third as wide as the Milky Way, and, if it could be seen in its entirety, would cover the same amount of sky as a grid of about 480 full moons. About one-third of the entire galaxy can be seen in the Spitzer image. This picture is a composite of infrared light captured by Spitzer. Light with wavelengths of 3.6 (blue) and 8 (green) microns was captured by the telescope's infrared array camera, 24-micron light (red) was detected by the multiband imaging photometer. |
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What's Old Is New in the Lar
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| Title |
What's Old Is New in the Large Magellanic Cloud |
| Description |
This vibrant image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy to our own Milky Way galaxy. The infrared image, a mosaic of 300,000 individual tiles, offers astronomers a unique chance to study the lifecycle of stars and dust in a single galaxy. Nearly one million objects are revealed for the first time in this Spitzer view, which represents about a 1,000-fold improvement in sensitivity over previous space-based missions. Most of the new objects are dusty stars of various ages populating the Large Magellanic Cloud, the rest are thought to be background galaxies. The blue color in the picture, seen most prominently in the central bar, represents starlight from older stars. The chaotic, bright regions outside this bar are filled with hot, massive stars buried in thick blankets of dust. The red color around these bright regions is from dust heated by stars, while the red dots scattered throughout the picture are either dusty, old stars or more distant galaxies. The greenish clouds contain cooler interstellar gas and molecular-sized dust grains illuminated by ambient starlight. Astronomers say this image allows them to quantify the process by which space dust ? the same stuff that makes up planets and even people ? is recycled in a galaxy. The picture shows dust at its three main cosmic hangouts: around the young stars, where it is being consumed (red-tinted, bright clouds), scattered about in the space between stars (greenish clouds), and in expelled shells of material from old stars (randomly-spaced red dots). The Large Magellanic Cloud, located 160,000 light-years from Earth, is one of a handful of dwarf galaxies that orbit our own Milky Way. It is approximately one-third as wide as the Milky Way, and, if it could be seen in its entirety, would cover the same amount of sky as a grid of about 480 full moons. About one-third of the entire galaxy can be seen in the Spitzer image. This picture is a composite of infrared light captured by Spitzer. Light with wavelengths of 3.6 (blue) and 8 (green) microns was captured by the telescope's infrared array camera, 24-micron light (red) was detected by the multiband imaging photometer. |
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What's Old Is New in the Lar
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| Title |
What's Old Is New in the Large Magellanic Cloud |
| Description |
This vibrant image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy to our own Milky Way galaxy. The infrared image, a mosaic of 300,000 individual tiles, offers astronomers a unique chance to study the lifecycle of stars and dust in a single galaxy. Nearly one million objects are revealed for the first time in this Spitzer view, which represents about a 1,000-fold improvement in sensitivity over previous space-based missions. Most of the new objects are dusty stars of various ages populating the Large Magellanic Cloud, the rest are thought to be background galaxies. The blue color in the picture, seen most prominently in the central bar, represents starlight from older stars. The chaotic, bright regions outside this bar are filled with hot, massive stars buried in thick blankets of dust. The red color around these bright regions is from dust heated by stars, while the red dots scattered throughout the picture are either dusty, old stars or more distant galaxies. The greenish clouds contain cooler interstellar gas and molecular-sized dust grains illuminated by ambient starlight. Astronomers say this image allows them to quantify the process by which space dust ? the same stuff that makes up planets and even people ? is recycled in a galaxy. The picture shows dust at its three main cosmic hangouts: around the young stars, where it is being consumed (red-tinted, bright clouds), scattered about in the space between stars (greenish clouds), and in expelled shells of material from old stars (randomly-spaced red dots). The Large Magellanic Cloud, located 160,000 light-years from Earth, is one of a handful of dwarf galaxies that orbit our own Milky Way. It is approximately one-third as wide as the Milky Way, and, if it could be seen in its entirety, would cover the same amount of sky as a grid of about 480 full moons. About one-third of the entire galaxy can be seen in the Spitzer image. This picture is a composite of infrared light captured by Spitzer. Light with wavelengths of 3.6 (blue) and 8 (green) microns was captured by the telescope's infrared array camera, 24-micron light (red) was detected by the multiband imaging photometer. |
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Hubble Snaps Picture of Rema
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| Title |
Hubble Snaps Picture of Remarkable Double Cluster |
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Firestorm of Star Birth Seen
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| Title |
Firestorm of Star Birth Seen in a Local 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 ] |
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Supernova Shock Wave Is Prod
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| Title |
Supernova Shock Wave Is Producing a Spectacular New Light Show |
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Supernova Shock Wave Is Prod
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| Title |
Supernova Shock Wave Is Producing a Spectacular New Light Show |
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Hubble Studies Generations o
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| Title |
Hubble Studies Generations of Star Formation in Neighboring 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 ] |
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Astronomers Measure Mass of
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| Title |
Astronomers Measure Mass of a Single Star ? First Since the Sun |
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescop
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| Title |
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope Resolves a Planetary Nebula in the Large Magellanic Could |
| General Information |
What is an American Astronomical Society Meeting release? A major news announcement issued at an American Astronomical Society meeting, the premier astronomy conference. The NASA Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has imaged N66, a planetary nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud (a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way galaxy). The image was obtained at 10:41 p.m. EDT on June 26, 1991, using the European Space Agency's Faint Object Camera. |
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A Cerro Tololo Sky
| Title |
A Cerro Tololo Sky |
| Explanation |
High atop a Chilean [ http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ ci.html ] mountain lies one of the premier observatories of the southern sky: the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory [ http://www.ctio.noao.edu/ ] (CTIO). Pictured above [ http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im0081.html ] is the dome surrounding one of the site's [ http://www.ctio.noao.edu/new/Sky%20Conditions/Webcam/ ] best known instruments, the 4-meter Blanco Telescope [ http://www.ctio.noao.edu/telescopes/4m/base4m.html ]. Far behind the dome are thousands of individual stars and diffuse light from three galaxies: the Small Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050617.html ] (upper left), the Large Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060510.html ] (lower left), and our Milky Way Galaxy [ http://www.anzwers.org/free/universe/ milkyway.html ] (right). Also visible just to Blanco's right is the famous superposition [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050129.html ] of four bright stars known as the Southern Cross [ http://science.nasa.gov/ppod/y2003/31mar_carina.htm ]. A single 20 second exposure, this digital image was recorded with a sensitive detector intended for astronomical imaging. |
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The Large Magellanic Cloud i
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| Title |
The Large Magellanic Cloud in Infrared |
| Explanation |
Where does dust collect in galaxies? To help find out, a team of researchers [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=2005AAS...207.6345M ] took the most detailed image ever of gas clouds and dust [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030706.html ] in the neighboring Large Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060510.html ] (LMC) galaxy. The composite image, shown above [ http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media/releases/ssc2006-17/ssc2006-17b.shtml ], was taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope [ http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/about/index.shtml ] in infrared light [ http://imagers.gsfc.nasa.gov/ems/infrared.html ], which highlights the natural glow of the warm materials returned to the interstellar medium [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020210.html ] by stars. The above mosaic [ http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media/releases/ssc2006-17/ssc2006-17b.shtml ] combines 300,000 individual pointings to create a composite 1,000-times sharper than any previous LMC image. Visible are vast [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050306.html ] clouds of gas and dust [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_dust ], showing in graphic detail that dust prefers regions near young stars (red-tinted bright clouds), scattered unevenly between the stars (green-tinted clouds), and in shells around old stars (small red dots). Also visible are huge cavern [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060226.html ]s cleared away by the energetic outflows of massive former stars. The faint blue (false-color) glow across the bottom is the combined light from the old stars in the central bar [ http://www-int.stsci.edu/~marel/lmc.html ] of the LMC. The LMC [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Magellanic_Cloud ] is a satellite galaxy [ http://www.astro.uu.se/~ns/mwsat.html ] to our own Milky Way Galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000518.html ], spans about 70,000 light years [ http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html ], and lies about 160,000 light years away toward the southern constellation of the Swordfish [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swordfish ] (Dorado [ http://www.astronomical.org/portal/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=33 ]). |
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ROSAT Explores The X-Ray Sky
| Title |
ROSAT Explores The X-Ray Sky |
| Explanation |
Launched in 1990, the orbiting ROSAT observatory [ http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/rosat/rosat.html ] explored the Universe by viewing the entire sky in x-rays [ http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/ history1_xray.html ] -- photons with about 1,000 times more energy than visible light. This ROSAT survey [ http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/rosat/survey/sxrb/12/ass.html ] produced the sharpest, most sensitive image of the x-ray sky to date. The all-sky image is shown with the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980523.html ] running horizontally through the center. Both x-ray brightness and relative energy are represented with red, green, and blue colors indicating three x-ray energy ranges (from lowest to highest). Bright x-ray spots near the galactic plane are within our own Milky Way. The brightest region (right of center) is toward the Vela Pulsar [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000609.html ] and the Puppis supernova remnant [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991209.html ]. Bright sources beyond our Galaxy are also apparent, notably the Virgo cluster of galaxies [ http://www.seds.org/messier/more/virgo.html ] (near top right) and the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) [ http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/ngc/lmc.html ]. The LMC is easy to find here as several of the black stripes (blank areas caused by missing data) seem to converge on its position (lower right). Over large areas of the sky a general diffuse background of x-rays [ http://chandra.harvard.edu/press/00_releases/ press_011400bg.html ] dominates. Hot gas in our own Galaxy provides much of this background and gives rise to the grand looping structures [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990503.html ] visible in the direction of the galactic center (image center). Unresolved extragalactic sources also add to this background, particularly above and below the plane. Despite the x-ray sky's exotic appearance, a very familiar feature is visible - the gas and dust clouds which line the plane of our galaxy absorb x-rays as well as optical light and produce the dark bands running through the galactic center [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000629.html ]. |
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Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy NGC
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| Title |
Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy NGC 205 in the Local Group |
| Explanation |
Our Milky Way Galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/milky_way.html ] is not alone. It is part of a gathering of about 25 galaxies known as the Local Group [ http://www.seds.org/messier/more/local.html ]. Members include the Great Andromeda Galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991114.html ] (M31), M32 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991103.html ], M33 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980721.html ], the Large Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000222.html ], the Small Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000430.html ], Dwingeloo 1 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000109.html ], several small irregular galaxies [ http://www.seds.org/messier/irre.html ], and many dwarf elliptical [ http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Ferguson/frames.html ] and dwarf spheroidal galaxies [ http://www.astro.uu.se/~ns/review.html ]. Pictured [ http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/Science/Astros/Imageofweek/ciw061299.html ] on the lower left is one of the many dwarf ellipticals [ http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/pdurrell/dE.html ]: NGC 205 [ http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m110.html ]. Like M32 [ http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m032.html ], NGC 205 [ http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Hodge/Hodge5_5.html ] is a companion to the large M31, and can sometimes be seen to the south of M31 [ http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m031.html ]'s center in photographs. The above image [ http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/Science/Astros/Imageofweek/ciw061299.html ] shows NGC 205 to be unusual [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1998ApJ...499..209W ] for an elliptical galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/elliptical_galaxies.html ] in that it contains at least two dust clouds [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990919.html ] (at 1 and 4 o'clock - they are visible but hard to spot) and signs of recent star formation [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/stellar_nurseries.html ]. This galaxy is sometimes known as M110, although it was actually not part of Messier [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960626.html ]'s original catalog [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/messier.html ]. |
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A Cerro Tololo Sky
| Title |
A Cerro Tololo Sky |
| Explanation |
High atop a Chilean [ http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ci.html ] mountain lies one of the premier observatories of the southern sky: Cerro Tololo [ http://www.ctio.noao.edu/telescopes/TheFuture/crystal_ball.html ]. Pictured above is one of the premier telescopes [ http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2001/03/22_halo.html ] of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory [ http://www.ctio.noao.edu/ ] (CTIO) and of the past quarter-century: the 4-meter Blanco Telescope [ http://www.ctio.noao.edu/telescopes/4m/base4m.html ]. Far behind the telescope are thousands of individual stars and diffuse light from three galaxies: the Small Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000430.html ] (upper left), the Large Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000222.html ] (lower left), and our Milky Way Galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/milky_way.html ] (right). Visible just to Blanco's right is the famous superposition [ http://www.southernskies.com.au/crux.htm ] of four bright stars known as the Southern Cross [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000618.html ]. The observatory structures are lit solely by starlight. |
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Neighboring Galaxy: The Larg
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| Title |
Neighboring Galaxy: The Large Magellanic Cloud |
| Explanation |
The brightest galaxy visible from our own Milky Way Galaxy is the Large Magellanic Cloud [ http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/ngc/lmc.html ] (LMC). Visible predominantly from Earth's Southern Hemisphere [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap001223.html ], the LMC [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980124.html ] is the second closest galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970329.html ], neighbor [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980203.html ] to the Small Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000430.html ], and one of eleven known dwarf galaxies [ http://www.astro.uu.se/~ns/mwsat.html ] that orbit our Milky Way Galaxy. The LMC [ http://www.astro.uni-bonn.de/~mcnews/MClinks.html ] is an irregular galaxy [ http://www.seds.org/messier/irre.html ] composed of a bar of older red stars, clouds of younger blue stars, and a bright red star forming region visible near the top of the above image [ http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im0562.html ] called the Tarantula Nebula [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991026.html ]. The brightest supernova [ http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/supernovae.html ] of modern times, SN1987A [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000206.html ], occurred in the LMC [ http://adsbit.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1969AJ.....74...44W ]. |
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Halloween and the Ghost Head
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| Title |
Halloween and the Ghost Head Nebula |
| Explanation |
Halloween's origin [ http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/halloween/holiday_origins1.html ] is ancient and astronomical. Since the fifth century BC, Halloween [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween ] has been celebrated as a cross-quarter day [ http://www-astronomy.mps.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit2/time.html ], a day halfway between an equinox [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000923.html ] (equal day / equal night) and a solstice [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971221.html ] (minimum day / maximum night in the northern hemisphere). With our modern calendar [ http://webexhibits.org/calendars/year-countries.html ], however, the real cross-quarter day [ http://www.whyy.org/tv12/franklinfacts/oct3100ff.html ] will occur next week. Another cross-quarter day is Groundhog's Day [ http://www.noblenet.org/year/groundhog.htm ]. Halloween's [ http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/010511.html ] modern celebration retains historic roots [ http://www.neopagan.net/Halloween-Origins.html ] in dressing to scare away the spirits of the dead. Perhaps a fitting modern tribute to this ancient holiday is the above-pictured Ghost Head Nebula [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04226 ] taken with the Hubble Space Telescope [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010806.html ]. Appearing similar to the icon of a fictional [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casper_the_Friendly_Ghost ] ghost [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost ], NGC 2080 is actually a star forming region [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/stellar_nurseries.html ] in the Large Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010804.html ], a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way Galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/milky_way.html ]. The Ghost Head Nebula spans about 50 light-years [ http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html ] and is shown in representative colors. |
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Halloween and the Ghost Head
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| Title |
Halloween and the Ghost Head Nebula |
| Explanation |
Halloween's origin [ http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/TLresources/longterm/LessonPlans/Byrnes/halloween.html ] is ancient and astronomical. Since the fifth century BC, Halloween [ http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/halloween/ ] has been celebrated as a cross-quarter day [ http://www-astronomy.mps.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit2/time.html ], a day halfway between an equinox [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000923.html ] (equal day / equal night) and a solstice [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971221.html ] (minimum day / maximum night in the northern hemisphere). With our modern calendar [ http://webexhibits.org/calendars/year-countries.html ], however, the real cross-quarter day [ http://www.whyy.org/tv12/franklinfacts/oct3100ff.html ] will occur next week. Another cross-quarter day is Groundhog's Day [ http://www.hansenplanetarium.net/CQGroundhog.html ]. Halloween's [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/proto/ halloween_sounds.html ] modern celebration retains historic roots [ http://www.utah.edu/planetarium/CQHalloween.html ] in dressing to scare away the spirits of the dead. A perhaps-fitting modern tribute to this ancient holiday is the above-pictured Ghost Head Nebula [ http://hubble.esa.int/hubble/news/image.cfm?oid=28749&ooid=28750 ] taken with the Hubble Space Telescope [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010806.html ]. Appearing similar to the icon of a fictional ghost [ http://www.yesterdayland.com/popopedia/shows/saturday/sa1025.php ], NGC 2080 is actually a star forming region [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/stellar_nurseries.html ] in the Large Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010804.html ], a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way Galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/milky_way.html ]. The Ghost Head Nebula spans about 50 light-years [ http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html ] and is shown in representative colors. |
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A Southern Sky View
| Title |
A Southern Sky View |
| Explanation |
On 1996 March 22, a Galaxy and a comet shared the southern sky. They were captured together, from horizon to horizon, in the night sky above Loomberah, New South Wales, Australia [ http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/as.html ] by astronomer Gordon Garradd [ http://members.ozemail.com.au/~loomberah/ ]. Garradd used a home made all-sky camera with a fisheye lens [ http://www.zeta.org.au/~andrewa/ajaa31.htm ], resulting in a circular 200 degree field of view. This gorgeous sky view [ http://encke.jpl.nasa.gov/images/96B2/96B2_960322_gg1.txt ] was dominated by the luminous band of our Milky Way Galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/milky_way.html ] cut by dramatic, dark interstellar dust clouds [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990919.html ]. Along with the bright stars of our Galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010804.html ] is visible at the lower left. That night sky was also graced by the long, lovely, bluish tail of Comet Hyakutake [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980717.html ], which can be seen toward the top of the image, near the bright star Arcturus [ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/hr/5340.html ]. Bright city lights from nearby Tamworth [ http://www.tamworthonline.com.au/ ] glow along the Northwestern horizon. |
|
N44C: A Nebular Mystery
| Title |
N44C: A Nebular Mystery |
| Explanation |
Why is N44C [ http://heritage.stsci.edu/2002/12/table.html ] glowing so strangely? The star that appears to power the nebula, although young and bright, does not seem hot enough to create some of the colors observed. A search for a hidden hotter star in X-rays [ http://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_astro/xrays.html ] has come up empty. One hypothesis [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=2000ApJ...545..251G ] is that the known central star has a neutron star [ http://www.astro.umd.edu/~miller/nstar.html ] companion in a very wide orbit [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970219.html ]. Hot X-rays might only then be emitted during brief periods [ http://www.astro.soton.ac.uk/~bexmgr/bex.html ] when the neutron star [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap981128.html ] nears the known star and crashes through a disk of surrounding gas [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991219.html ]. Future observations might tell. N44C, pictured in the above [ http://heritage.stsci.edu/2002/12/index.html ] Hubble Space Telescope [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010806.html ] image, is an emission nebula [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/emission_nebulae.html ] in the Large Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010804.html ], a neighboring galaxy to our Milky Way Galaxy [ http://www.seds.org/messier/more/mw.html ]. Flowing filaments of colorful gas [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000521.html ] and dark dust [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap011216.html ] far from the brightest region are likely part of the greater N44 complex [ http://www.sciam.com/exhibit/1999/070599telescopes/lasilla.html ]. It would take light about 125 years to cross N44C. |
|
A Cerro Tololo Sky
| Title |
A Cerro Tololo Sky |
| Explanation |
High atop a Chilean [ http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ ci.html ] mountain lies one of the premier observatories of the southern sky: the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory [ http://www.ctio.noao.edu/ ] (CTIO). Pictured above [ http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im0081.html ] is the dome surrounding one of the site's [ http://www.ctio.noao.edu/new/Sky%20Conditions/Webcam/ ] best known instruments, the 4-meter Blanco Telescope [ http://www.ctio.noao.edu/telescopes/4m/base4m.html ]. Far behind the dome are thousands of individual stars and diffuse light from three galaxies: the Small Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000430.html ] (upper left), the Large Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000222.html ] (lower left), and our Milky Way Galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/milky_way.html ] (right). Visible just to Blanco's right is the famous superposition [ http://www.southernskies.com.au/crux.htm ] of four bright stars known as the Southern Cross [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000618.html ]. A single 20 second exposure, this digital image was recorded with a sensitive detector intended for astronomical imaging. The observatory structures are lit solely by starlight. |
|
ROSAT Explores the X-Ray Sky
| Title |
ROSAT Explores the X-Ray Sky |
| Explanation |
Launched in 1990, the orbiting ROSAT observatory [ http://legacy.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/missions/rosat.html ] explored the Universe by viewing the entire sky in x-rays [ http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/learning_center/ basic/xray/xray_information.html ] - photons with about 1,000 times more energy than visible light [ http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/learning_center/ basic/emspectrum.html ]. This ROSAT survey [ http://www.rosat.mpe-garching.mpg.de/survey/sxrb/ ] produced the sharpest, most sensitive image of the x-ray sky to date. The all-sky image is shown with the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960213.html ] running horizontally through the center. Both x-ray brightness and relative energy are represented with red, green, and blue colors indicating three x-ray energy ranges (from lowest to highest). Bright x-ray spots near the galactic plane are within our own Milky Way. The brightest region (right of center) is toward the Vela Pulsar and the Puppis supernova remnant [ http://lheawww.gsfc.nasa.gov/users/jonathan/outreach_pages/ neutron_stars.html ]. Bright sources beyond our Galaxy are also apparent, notably the Virgo cluster of galaxies [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960419.html ] (near top right) and the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950918.html ]. The LMC is easy to find here as several of the black stripes (blank areas caused by missing data) seem to converge on its position (lower right). Over large areas of the sky a general diffuse background of x-rays dominates [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1995ApJ%2E%2E%2E454%2E%2E643S&db_key=AST ]. Hot gas in our own Galaxy provides much of this background and gives rise to the grand looping structures visible in the direction of the galactic center (image center). Unresolved extragalactic sources also add to this background, particularly above and below the plane. Despite the x-ray sky's exotic appearance, a very familiar feature is visible - the gas and dust clouds which line the plane of our galaxy absorb x-rays as well as optical light and produce the dark bands running through the galactic center [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960605.html ]. |
|
The Aquarius Dwarf
| Title |
The Aquarius Dwarf |
| Explanation |
Our Milky Way Galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/milky_way.html ] is not alone. It is part of a gathering of about 50 galaxies known as the Local Group [ http://www.seds.org/messier/more/local.html ]. Members include the Great Andromeda Galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap021021.html ] (M31), M32 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991103.html ], M33 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap021202.html ], the Large Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010804.html ], the Small Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000430.html ], Dwingeloo 1 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000109.html ], several small irregular galaxies [ http://www.seds.org/messier/irre.html ], and many dwarf elliptical [ http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Ferguson/frames.html ] and dwarf spheroidal galaxies [ http://www.astro.uu.se/~ns/review.html ]. Pictured above is the Aquarius Dwarf [ http://www.seds.org/~spider/spider/LG/aqr_dw.html ], a faint dwarf irregular galaxy over 3 million light years [ http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html ] away. An earlier [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970329.html ] APOD [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960204.html ] erroneously identified [ http://www.solstation.com/x-objects/sag-deg.htm ] the above image as the Sagittarius Dwarf [ http://www.seds.org/messier/more/sagdeg.html ]. |
|
A Cerro Tololo Sky
| Title |
A Cerro Tololo Sky |
| Explanation |
High atop a Chilean [ http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ ci.html ] mountain lies one of the premier observatories of the southern sky: the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory [ http://www.ctio.noao.edu/ ] (CTIO). Pictured above [ http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im0081.html ] is the dome surrounding one of the site's [ http://www.ctio.noao.edu/new/Sky%20Conditions/Webcam/ ] best known instruments, the 4-meter Blanco Telescope [ http://www.ctio.noao.edu/telescopes/4m/base4m.html ]. Far behind the dome are thousands of individual stars and diffuse light from three galaxies: the Small Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010324.html ] (upper left), the Large Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010804.html ] (lower left), and our Milky Way Galaxy [ http://www.anzwers.org/free/universe/ milkyway.html ] (right). Also visible just to Blanco's right is the famous superposition [ http://www.rasnz.org.nz/Stars/Crux.htm ] of four bright stars known as the Southern Cross [ http://science.nasa.gov/ppod/y2003/31mar_carina.htm ]. A single 20 second exposure, this digital image was recorded with a sensitive detector intended for astronomical imaging. The observatory structures are lit solely by starlight. |
|
Nebulas Surrounding Wolf-Ray
…
| Title |
Nebulas Surrounding Wolf-Rayet Binary BAT99-49 |
| Explanation |
How could two young stars power these colorful interstellar gas clouds? Although hidden by thick dust [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030706.html ], the stars spew forceful ions [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion ] and energetic radiation [ http://www.lbl.gov/MicroWorlds/ALSTool/EMSpec/EMSpec.html ] that cause the clouds to fragment and light up. The above composite color image [ http://www.eso.org/outreach/gallery/vlt/images/Top20/Top20/press- rel/pr-08-03_pf.html ] from the European Southern Observatory [ http://www.eso.org/ ]'s Melipal VLT telescope [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000707.html ] resolves details in the nebula complex known as BAT99-49, with emission from helium [ http://pearl1.lanl.gov/periodic/elements/2.html ] atoms in blue hues, oxygen [ http://pearl1.lanl.gov/periodic/elements/8.html ] atoms in green, and hydrogen [ http://pearl1.lanl.gov/periodic/elements/1.html ] atoms in red. Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010804.html ] (LMC), the largest satellite galaxy to our own Milky Way Galaxy [ http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/gr/public/gal_milky.html ], one of the stars in the central binary [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970219.html ] is an enigmatic Wolf-Rayet star [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap981109.html ] while the other is a massive O star [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040418.html ]. Wolf-Rayet star [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990409.html ]s have some of the hottest surfaces in the universe, while O stars are the most massive and energetic of normal main sequence [ http://observe.arc.nasa.gov/nasa/space/stellardeath/stellardeath_1ai.h tml ] stars. |
|
A Magellanic Mural
| Title |
A Magellanic Mural |
| Explanation |
Two galaxies stand out to casual observers in Earth's Southern Hemisphere [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap951222.html ]: the Large Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980124.html ] (LMC) and the Small Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980125.html ] (SMC). These irregular galaxies are two of the closest galaxies to our Milky Way Galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971229.html ]. Recent observations of the LMC [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/messier/xtra/ngc/lmc.html ] (on the left) have determined that it is on a nearly circular orbit [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1994AJ%2E%2E%2E%2E107%2E1333J&db_key=AST&high=33613e8e5804385&nosetcookie=1 ] around our Galaxy, and have even helped in the determination of the composition of dark matter in our Galaxy [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1997ApJ%2E%2E%2E486%2E%2E697A&db_key=AST&high=33613e8e5804464&nosetcookie=1 ]. The above photograph [ http://www.astr.ua.edu/gifimages/lmc_smc.html ] spans 40 degrees. Visible on the lower left of the LMC is the Tarantula Nebula [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap951027.html ] (in red). In the foreground to the right of the SMC [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/messier/xtra/ngc/smc.html ] is globular cluster 47 Tucanae [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970919.html ], appearing here as a bright point of light. |
|
Windblown N44F
| Title |
Windblown N44F |
| Explanation |
A fast and powerful wind from a hot young star [ http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0208430 ] has created this stunning bubble-shaped nebula [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/ 2004/26/ ] poised on the end of a bright filament of hydrogen gas. Cataloged as N44F [ http://www.asnsw.com/articles/clouds/ lmc-henize.htm ], the cosmic windblown bubble is seen at the left of this Hubble Space Telescope image. N44F lies along the northern outskirts of the N44 complex [ http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2003/ phot-31-03.html ] of emission nebulae in the Large Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010804.html ], a mere 160,000 light-years away. The bright, blue, hot star itself is just below the center of the bubble. Peering into the bubble's interior, the Hubble image [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/ releases/2004/26/fastfacts/ ] reveals dramatic structures, including pillars of dust, aligned toward N44F's hot central star. Reminiscent of dust pillars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap031026.html ] in stellar nurseries [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030921.html ] within our Milky Way galaxy, they likely contain young stars at their tips [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040529.html ]. Expanding into the surrounding gas and dust at about 12 kilometers per second, N44F is around 35 light-years across. |
|
The Large Cloud of Magellan
| Title |
The Large Cloud of Magellan |
| Explanation |
Portuguese navigator Fernando de Magellan [ http://www.mariner.org/age/magellan.html ] and his crew had plenty of time to study the southern sky during the first circumnavigation of planet Earth. As a result, two fuzzy cloud-like objects easily visible for southern hemisphere skygazers are known as the Clouds of Magellan [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980203.html ]. Of course, these star clouds are now understood to be dwarf irregular galaxies, satellites of our larger spiral [ http://www.anzwers.org/free/universe/ sattelit.html ] Milky Way galaxy. The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) pictured above is only about 180,000 light-years distant in the constellation Dorado [ http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/dor/ ]. Spanning about 15,000 light-years or so, it is the most massive of the Milky Way's satellite galaxies and is the site of the closest supernova [ http://heritage.stsci.edu/1999/04/supplemental.html ] in modern times. The prominent red knot on the right is 30 Doradus, or the Tarantula Nebula [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030823.html ], a giant star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud [ http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/ multiwavelength_astronomy/multiwavelength_museum/ lmc.html ]. |
|
N11: A Giant Ring of Emissio
…
| Title |
N11: A Giant Ring of Emission Nebulas |
| Explanation |
How did this unusually large nebula form? One of the largest nebulas yet detected is actually a complex ring of emission nebulas [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/emission_nebulae.html ] connected by glowing filaments. The unusual network [ http://wwwusr.obspm.fr/~heydari/projects/N11/big.html ], known as N11, spans over 1000 light years [ http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html ] and is a prominent structure [ http://www.esa.int/esaSC/Pr_7_2004_h_en.html ] of the Large Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040902.html ], the largest satellite galaxy of our Milky Way Galaxy [ http://www.seds.org/messier/more/mw.html ]. In the center of the above image [ http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im0866.html ] is open star cluster LH9, also known as NGC 1760, composed of about 50 bright blue stars that emit radiation that has eroded a hole in their surroundings. A leading hypothesis [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1996A%26A...308..588R ] for the formation of N11 is shells of successive generations of stars being formed further out from the center. The bright region just above center [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040707.html ] is N11B [ http://wwwusr.obspm.fr/~heydari/projects/N11/big.html ], an explosive domain where stars are being formed even today. |
|
A Supernova Star-Field
| Title |
A Supernova Star-Field |
| Explanation |
Bright stars don't last forever. A bright star [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap981025.html ] similar to others in this field exploded in a spectacular supernova [ http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/supernovae.html ] that was witnessed on Earth in 1987 [ http://zebu.uoregon.edu/~soper/StarDeath/sn1987a.html ]. The result is visible even today as unusual rings [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960705.html ] and glowing gas. The above picture [ http://heritage.stsci.edu/public/feb4/sn1987a.html ] is a composite of recent images [ http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/1999/04/index.html ] taken over several years. The explosion originated from a bright massive star that ran out of nuclear fuel [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/gifcity/msblues.html ]. SN1987A [ http://www.aspsky.org/html/tnl/08/08.html ] occurred in the Large Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980203.html ] (LMC), a satellite galaxy only 150,000 light years from our Milky Way Galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980523.html ]. The rings of SN1987A [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970124.html ] are currently excited by light from the initial explosion. Astronomers expect the inner ring to brighten [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980217.html ] in the next few years as expanding supernova debris overtakes it. |
|
Galaxy NGC 1850
| Title |
Galaxy NGC 1850 |
| Description |
By spying on a neighboring galaxy, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured an image of a young, globular-like star cluster -- a type of object unknown in our Milky Way Galaxy. The image, taken by Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, is online at http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/2001/25 and http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/wfpc. The camera was designed and built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The double cluster NGC 1850 lies in a neighboring satellite galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud. It has two relatively young components. The main, globular-like cluster is in the center. A smaller cluster is seen below and to the right, composed of extremely hot, blue stars and fainter red T-Tauri stars. The main cluster is about 50 million years old, the smaller one is 4 million years old. A filigree pattern of diffuse gas surrounds NGC 1850. Scientists believe the pattern formed millions of years ago when massive stars in the main cluster exploded as supernovas. Hubble can observe a range of star types in NGC 1850, including the faint, low-mass T-Tauri stars, which are difficult to distinguish with ground-based telescopes. Hubble's fine angular resolution can pick out these stars, even in other galaxies. Massive stars of the OB type emit large amounts of energetic ultraviolet radiation, which is absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere. From Hubble's position above the atmosphere, it can detect this ultraviolet light. NGC 1850, the brightest star cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud, is in the southern constellation of Dorado, called the Goldfish or the Swordfish. This image was created from five archival exposures taken by the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 between April 3, 1994 and February 6, 1996. More information about the Hubble Space Telescope is online at http://www.stsci.edu. More information about the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 is at http://wfpc2.jpl.nasa.gov. The Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md., manages space operations for Hubble for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Institute is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., for NASA, under contract with the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. |
| Date |
12.03.1999 |
|
Like a Whiff of Smoke
hubblespacetelescopecollecti
…
Resembling the puffs of smok
…
440548main_STScI-2003-20a
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2010-04-06 |
| creator |
NASA |
| identifier |
440548main_STScI-2003-20a |
|
Galaxy NGC 1850
PIA04221
Wide Field Planetary Camera
…
| Title |
Galaxy NGC 1850 |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
By spying on a neighboring galaxy, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured an image of a young, globular-like star cluster -- a type of object unknown in our Milky Way Galaxy. The image, taken by Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, is online at http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/2001/25 and http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/wfpc. The camera was designed and built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The double cluster NGC 1850 lies in a neighboring satellite galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud. It has two relatively young components. The main, globular-like cluster is in the center. A smaller cluster is seen below and to the right, composed of extremely hot, blue stars and fainter red T-Tauri stars. The main cluster is about 50 million years old, the smaller one is 4 million years old. A filigree pattern of diffuse gas surrounds NGC 1850. Scientists believe the pattern formed millions of years ago when massive stars in the main cluster exploded as supernovas. Hubble can observe a range of star types in NGC 1850, including the faint, low-mass T-Tauri stars, which are difficult to distinguish with ground-based telescopes. Hubble's fine angular resolution can pick out these stars, even in other galaxies. Massive stars of the OB type emit large amounts of energetic ultraviolet radiation, which is absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere. From Hubble's position above the atmosphere, it can detect this ultraviolet light. NGC 1850, the brightest star cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud, is in the southern constellation of Dorado, called the Goldfish or the Swordfish. This image was created from five archival exposures taken by the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 between April 3, 1994 and February 6, 1996. More information about the Hubble Space Telescope is online at http://www.stsci.edu. More information about the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 is at http://wfpc2.jpl.nasa.gov. The Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md., manages space operations for Hubble for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Institute is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., for NASA, under contract with the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. |
|
Our Chaotic Neighbor
PIA07136
Infrared Array Camera (IRAC)
| Title |
Our Chaotic Neighbor |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Poster Version Large Magellanic Cloud This vibrant image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy to our own Milky Way galaxy. The infrared image, a mosaic of more than 100,000 individual tiles, offers astronomers a unique chance to study the lifecycle of stars and dust in a single galaxy. Nearly one million objects are revealed for the first time in this Spitzer view, which represents about a 1,000-fold improvement in sensitivity over previous space-based missions. Most of the new objects are dusty stars of various ages populating the Large Magellanic Cloud, the rest are thought to be background galaxies. The blue color in the picture, seen most prominently in the central bar, represents starlight from older stars. The chaotic, bright regions outside this bar are filled with hot, massive stars buried in thick blankets of dust. The red clouds contain cooler interstellar gas and molecular-sized dust grains illuminated by ambient starlight. The Large Magellanic Cloud, located 160,000 light-years from Earth, is one of a handful of dwarf galaxies that orbit our own Milky Way. It is approximately one-third as wide as the Milky Way, and, if it could be seen in its entirety, would cover the same amount of sky as a grid of about 480 full moons. About one-third of the whole galaxy can be seen in the Spitzer image. This picture is a composite of infrared light captured by Spitzer's infrared array camera. Light with wavelengths of 8 and 5.8 microns is red and orange: 4.5-micron light is green, and 3.6-micron light is blue. |
|
Our Chaotic Neighbor
PIA07136
Infrared Array Camera (IRAC)
| Title |
Our Chaotic Neighbor |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Poster Version Large Magellanic Cloud This vibrant image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy to our own Milky Way galaxy. The infrared image, a mosaic of more than 100,000 individual tiles, offers astronomers a unique chance to study the lifecycle of stars and dust in a single galaxy. Nearly one million objects are revealed for the first time in this Spitzer view, which represents about a 1,000-fold improvement in sensitivity over previous space-based missions. Most of the new objects are dusty stars of various ages populating the Large Magellanic Cloud, the rest are thought to be background galaxies. The blue color in the picture, seen most prominently in the central bar, represents starlight from older stars. The chaotic, bright regions outside this bar are filled with hot, massive stars buried in thick blankets of dust. The red clouds contain cooler interstellar gas and molecular-sized dust grains illuminated by ambient starlight. The Large Magellanic Cloud, located 160,000 light-years from Earth, is one of a handful of dwarf galaxies that orbit our own Milky Way. It is approximately one-third as wide as the Milky Way, and, if it could be seen in its entirety, would cover the same amount of sky as a grid of about 480 full moons. About one-third of the whole galaxy can be seen in the Spitzer image. This picture is a composite of infrared light captured by Spitzer's infrared array camera. Light with wavelengths of 8 and 5.8 microns is red and orange: 4.5-micron light is green, and 3.6-micron light is blue. |
|
What's Old is New in the Lar
…
PIA07137
Infrared Array Camera (IRAC)
…
| Title |
What's Old is New in the Large Magellanic Cloud |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Poster Version Large Magellanic Cloud This vibrant image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy to our own Milky Way galaxy. The infrared image, a mosaic of 300,000 individual tiles, offers astronomers a unique chance to study the lifecycle of stars and dust in a single galaxy. Nearly one million objects are revealed for the first time in this Spitzer view, which represents about a 1,000-fold improvement in sensitivity over previous space-based missions. Most of the new objects are dusty stars of various ages populating the Large Magellanic Cloud, the rest are thought to be background galaxies. The blue color in the picture, seen most prominently in the central bar, represents starlight from older stars. The chaotic, bright regions outside this bar are filled with hot, massive stars buried in thick blankets of dust. The red color around these bright regions is from dust heated by stars, while the red dots scattered throughout the picture are either dusty, old stars or more distant galaxies. The greenish clouds contain cooler interstellar gas and molecular-sized dust grains illuminated by ambient starlight. Astronomers say this image allows them to quantify the process by which space dust -- the same stuff that makes up planets and even people -- is recycled in a galaxy. The picture shows dust at its three main cosmic hangouts: around the young stars, where it is being consumed (red-tinted, bright clouds), scattered about in the space between stars (greenish clouds), and in expelled shells of material from old stars (randomly-spaced red dots). The Large Magellanic Cloud, located 160,000 light-years from Earth, is one of a handful of dwarf galaxies that orbit our own Milky Way. It is approximately one-third as wide as the Milky Way, and, if it could be seen in its entirety, would cover the same amount of sky as a grid of about 480 full moons. About one-third of the entire galaxy can be seen in the Spitzer image. This picture is a composite of infrared light captured by Spitzer. Light with wavelengths of 3.6 (blue) and 8 (green) microns was captured by the telescope's infrared array camera, 24-micron light (red) was detected by the multiband imaging photometer. |
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What's Old is New in the Lar
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PIA07137
Infrared Array Camera (IRAC)
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| Title |
What's Old is New in the Large Magellanic Cloud |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Poster Version Large Magellanic Cloud This vibrant image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy to our own Milky Way galaxy. The infrared image, a mosaic of 300,000 individual tiles, offers astronomers a unique chance to study the lifecycle of stars and dust in a single galaxy. Nearly one million objects are revealed for the first time in this Spitzer view, which represents about a 1,000-fold improvement in sensitivity over previous space-based missions. Most of the new objects are dusty stars of various ages populating the Large Magellanic Cloud, the rest are thought to be background galaxies. The blue color in the picture, seen most prominently in the central bar, represents starlight from older stars. The chaotic, bright regions outside this bar are filled with hot, massive stars buried in thick blankets of dust. The red color around these bright regions is from dust heated by stars, while the red dots scattered throughout the picture are either dusty, old stars or more distant galaxies. The greenish clouds contain cooler interstellar gas and molecular-sized dust grains illuminated by ambient starlight. Astronomers say this image allows them to quantify the process by which space dust -- the same stuff that makes up planets and even people -- is recycled in a galaxy. The picture shows dust at its three main cosmic hangouts: around the young stars, where it is being consumed (red-tinted, bright clouds), scattered about in the space between stars (greenish clouds), and in expelled shells of material from old stars (randomly-spaced red dots). The Large Magellanic Cloud, located 160,000 light-years from Earth, is one of a handful of dwarf galaxies that orbit our own Milky Way. It is approximately one-third as wide as the Milky Way, and, if it could be seen in its entirety, would cover the same amount of sky as a grid of about 480 full moons. About one-third of the entire galaxy can be seen in the Spitzer image. This picture is a composite of infrared light captured by Spitzer. Light with wavelengths of 3.6 (blue) and 8 (green) microns was captured by the telescope's infrared array camera, 24-micron light (red) was detected by the multiband imaging photometer. |
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