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A Bubble Bursts
| Title |
A Bubble Bursts |
| Description |
RCW 79 is seen in the southern Milky Way, 17,200 light-years from Earth in the constellation Centaurus. The bubble is 70-light years in diameter, and probably took about one million years to form from the radiation and winds of hot young stars. The balloon of gas and dust is an example of stimulated star formation. Such stars are born when the hot bubble expands into the interstellar gas and dust around it. RCW 79 has spawned at least two groups of new stars along the edge of the large bubble. Some are visible inside the small bubble in the lower left corner. Another group of baby stars appears near the opening at the top. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope easily detects infrared light from the dust particles in RCW 79. The young stars within RCW79 radiate ultraviolet light that excites molecules of dust within the bubble. This causes the dust grains to emit infrared light that is detected by Spitzer and seen here as the extended red features. |
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A New Star Cluster
| Title |
A New Star Cluster |
| Description |
Using an automated computer method to sift through data collected by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers on the Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE) team found a new star cluster (inset) in our Milky Way galaxy, in the northern constellation Aquila (main image). The new cluster is seen in the center of the red nebula, or star-forming cloud, as the grouping of small blue, yellow, and green stars. The wisps of red are organic molecules within the dust which have been illuminated by nearby star formation. Green indicates the presence of hot hydrogen gas. Blue predominantly reveals older stars. The bright white arc located to the lower left side of the central star cluster shows the area where a massive star is forming. For years, dense obscuring clouds of dust have blocked the central cluster from optical view. The high density of the stars triggered the GLIMPSE team's automatic cluster-finding computer program to the presence of this cluster. There are still some dust clouds even in the heart of this cluster, as seen in the inset, indicating, that stars are probably still being formed today. With time, these clouds will disappear as more stars form. The infrared image was captured with the Spitzer's infrared array camera (IRAC). The picture is a 4-channel false-color composite, showing emission from wavelengths of 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (orange) and 8.0 microns (red). |
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A New Star Cluster
| Title |
A New Star Cluster |
| Description |
Using an automated computer method to sift through data collected by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers on the Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE) team found a new star cluster (inset) in our Milky Way galaxy, in the northern constellation Aquila (main image). The new cluster is seen in the center of the red nebula, or star-forming cloud, as the grouping of small blue, yellow, and green stars. The wisps of red are organic molecules within the dust which have been illuminated by nearby star formation. Green indicates the presence of hot hydrogen gas. Blue predominantly reveals older stars. The bright white arc located to the lower left side of the central star cluster shows the area where a massive star is forming. For years, dense obscuring clouds of dust have blocked the central cluster from optical view. The high density of the stars triggered the GLIMPSE team's automatic cluster-finding computer program to the presence of this cluster. There are still some dust clouds even in the heart of this cluster, as seen in the inset, indicating, that stars are probably still being formed today. With time, these clouds will disappear as more stars form. The infrared image was captured with the Spitzer's infrared array camera (IRAC). The picture is a 4-channel false-color composite, showing emission from wavelengths of 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (orange) and 8.0 microns (red). |
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A New Star Cluster
| Title |
A New Star Cluster |
| Description |
Using an automated computer method to sift through data collected by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers on the Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE) team found a new star cluster (inset) in our Milky Way galaxy, in the northern constellation Aquila (main image). The new cluster is seen in the center of the red nebula, or star-forming cloud, as the grouping of small blue, yellow, and green stars. The wisps of red are organic molecules within the dust which have been illuminated by nearby star formation. Green indicates the presence of hot hydrogen gas. Blue predominantly reveals older stars. The bright white arc located to the lower left side of the central star cluster shows the area where a massive star is forming. For years, dense obscuring clouds of dust have blocked the central cluster from optical view. The high density of the stars triggered the GLIMPSE team's automatic cluster-finding computer program to the presence of this cluster. There are still some dust clouds even in the heart of this cluster, as seen in the inset, indicating, that stars are probably still being formed today. With time, these clouds will disappear as more stars form. The infrared image was captured with the Spitzer's infrared array camera (IRAC). The picture is a 4-channel false-color composite, showing emission from wavelengths of 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (orange) and 8.0 microns (red). |
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All Pillars Point to Eta
| Title |
All Pillars Point to Eta |
| Description |
This false-color image taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the "South Pillar" region of the star-forming region called the Carina Nebula. Like cracking open a watermelon and finding its seeds, the infrared telescope "busted open" this murky cloud to reveal star embryos (yellow or white) tucked inside finger-like pillars of thick dust (pink). Hot gases are green and foreground stars are blue. Not all of the newfound star embryos can be easily spotted. Though the nebula's most famous and massive star, Eta Carinae, is too bright to be observed by infrared telescopes, the downward-streaming rays hint at its presence above the picture frame. Ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds from Eta Carinae and its siblings have shredded the cloud to pieces, leaving a mess of tendrils and pillars. This shredding process triggered the birth of the new stars uncovered by Spitzer. The inset visible-light picture of the Carina Nebula shows quite a different view. Dust pillars are fewer and appear dark because the dust is soaking up visible light. Spitzer's infrared detectors cut through this dust, allowing it to see the heat from warm, embedded star embryos, as well as deeper, more buried pillars. Eta Carinae is a behemoth of a star, with more than 100 times the mass of our Sun. It is so massive that it can barely hold itself together. Over the years, it has brightened and faded as material has shot away from its surface. Some astronomers think Eta Carinae might die in a supernova blast within our lifetime. Eta Carinae's home, the Carina Nebula, is located in the southern portion of our Milky Way galaxy, 10,000 light-years from Earth. This colossal cloud of gas and dust stretches across 200 light-years of space. Though it is dominated by Eta Carinae, it also houses the star's slightly less massive siblings, in addition to the younger generations of stars. This image was taken by the infrared array camera on Spitzer. It is a three-color composite of invisible light, showing emissions from wavelengths of 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (orange), and 8.0 microns (red). The visible-light picture is from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory. |
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All Pillars Point to Eta
| Title |
All Pillars Point to Eta |
| Description |
This false-color image taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the "South Pillar" region of the star-forming region called the Carina Nebula. Like cracking open a watermelon and finding its seeds, the infrared telescope "busted open" this murky cloud to reveal star embryos (yellow or white) tucked inside finger-like pillars of thick dust (pink). Hot gases are green and foreground stars are blue. Not all of the newfound star embryos can be easily spotted. Though the nebula's most famous and massive star, Eta Carinae, is too bright to be observed by infrared telescopes, the downward-streaming rays hint at its presence above the picture frame. Ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds from Eta Carinae and its siblings have shredded the cloud to pieces, leaving a mess of tendrils and pillars. This shredding process triggered the birth of the new stars uncovered by Spitzer. The inset visible-light picture of the Carina Nebula shows quite a different view. Dust pillars are fewer and appear dark because the dust is soaking up visible light. Spitzer's infrared detectors cut through this dust, allowing it to see the heat from warm, embedded star embryos, as well as deeper, more buried pillars. Eta Carinae is a behemoth of a star, with more than 100 times the mass of our Sun. It is so massive that it can barely hold itself together. Over the years, it has brightened and faded as material has shot away from its surface. Some astronomers think Eta Carinae might die in a supernova blast within our lifetime. Eta Carinae's home, the Carina Nebula, is located in the southern portion of our Milky Way galaxy, 10,000 light-years from Earth. This colossal cloud of gas and dust stretches across 200 light-years of space. Though it is dominated by Eta Carinae, it also houses the star's slightly less massive siblings, in addition to the younger generations of stars. This image was taken by the infrared array camera on Spitzer. It is a three-color composite of invisible light, showing emissions from wavelengths of 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (orange), and 8.0 microns (red). The visible-light picture is from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory. |
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All Pillars Point to Eta
| Title |
All Pillars Point to Eta |
| Description |
This false-color image taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the "South Pillar" region of the star-forming region called the Carina Nebula. Like cracking open a watermelon and finding its seeds, the infrared telescope "busted open" this murky cloud to reveal star embryos (yellow or white) tucked inside finger-like pillars of thick dust (pink). Hot gases are green and foreground stars are blue. Not all of the newfound star embryos can be easily spotted. Though the nebula's most famous and massive star, Eta Carinae, is too bright to be observed by infrared telescopes, the downward-streaming rays hint at its presence above the picture frame. Ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds from Eta Carinae and its siblings have shredded the cloud to pieces, leaving a mess of tendrils and pillars. This shredding process triggered the birth of the new stars uncovered by Spitzer. The inset visible-light picture of the Carina Nebula shows quite a different view. Dust pillars are fewer and appear dark because the dust is soaking up visible light. Spitzer's infrared detectors cut through this dust, allowing it to see the heat from warm, embedded star embryos, as well as deeper, more buried pillars. Eta Carinae is a behemoth of a star, with more than 100 times the mass of our Sun. It is so massive that it can barely hold itself together. Over the years, it has brightened and faded as material has shot away from its surface. Some astronomers think Eta Carinae might die in a supernova blast within our lifetime. Eta Carinae's home, the Carina Nebula, is located in the southern portion of our Milky Way galaxy, 10,000 light-years from Earth. This colossal cloud of gas and dust stretches across 200 light-years of space. Though it is dominated by Eta Carinae, it also houses the star's slightly less massive siblings, in addition to the younger generations of stars. This image was taken by the infrared array camera on Spitzer. It is a three-color composite of invisible light, showing emissions from wavelengths of 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (orange), and 8.0 microns (red). The visible-light picture is from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory. |
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Carina in Context
| Title |
Carina in Context |
| Description |
This animation starts with an image of a larger but lower resolution image of the Carina Nebula from the Midcourse Space Experiment, which did an infrared survey of the sky while in operation from 1996-97. The image shows the dying star Eta Carinae as the bright spot near the center of the image. As the movie rotates and zooms in, the area that Spitzer studied in detail comes into focus. The "pillars" in the Spitzer image are being sculpted by ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds from the massive star Eta Carinae, a star with more than 100 times the mass of our Sun, and other massive neighboring stars. Spitzer's infrared detectors can see the heat from warm, embedded star embryos, as well as deeper, more buried pillars. This image was taken by the infrared array camera on Spitzer. It is a three-color composite of invisible light, showing emissions from wavelengths of 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (orange), and 8.0 microns (red). |
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Star Clusters Found in the M
…
| Title |
Star Clusters Found in the Milky Way |
| Description |
A metropolis of stellar activity is captured in these images taken by the Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE) Legacy project. The panoramic image composite (top) captures 8 degrees of our Milky Way galaxy's plane (approximately the width of a fist held up to the sky at arm's length). The red dust clouds have been illuminated by nearby star formation, and indicate the presence of large organic molecules mixed in with the dust. The patches of black are dense, obscuring dust clouds impenetrable by even Spitzer's super-sensitive infrared eyes. Bright arcs of white throughout the image are massive stellar incubators. Tucked away in this stretch of sky are two newly discovered star clusters (bottom). These were identified using an automatic cluster-finding computer program developed by astronomers at Boston University, Mass. This software can systematically search huge areas of sky to find star groupings difficult to find by eye. The two bottom images show these very different clusters in greater detail. One is an isolated, tight grouping of older stars (left). The other shows a looser cluster situated within a wispy red ring (right). The red doughnut-shaped cloud glows from the starlight in this cluster. The many other blue dots spread across the images are older stars located at a variety of distances along this line of sight, many positioned deep in the heart of our Milky Way. The new software helps astronomers separate out these field stars from the ones within the clusters. The infrared image was captured with the Spitzer's infrared array camera (IRAC). The picture is a 4-channel false-color composite, showing emission from wavelengths of 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (orange), and 8.0 microns (red). |
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Black Widow Nebula Hiding in
…
| Title |
Black Widow Nebula Hiding in the Dust |
| Description |
In the constellation Circinus, where previous visible-light observations by the Digital Sky Survey (left) saw only a faint hourglass-shaped patch of obscuring dust and gas, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope's dust-piercing eyes see a big "Black Widow Nebula" teeming with clusters of massive young stars (right). In the Spitzer image, the two opposing bubbles are being formed in opposite directions by the powerful outflows from massive groups of forming stars. The baby stars can be seen as specks of yellow where the two bubbles overlap. When individual stars form from molecular clouds of gas and dust they produce intense radiation and very strong particle winds. Both the radiation and the stellar winds blow the dust outward from the star creating a cavity or, bubble. In the case of the Black Widow Nebula, astronomers suspect that a large cloud of gas and dust condensed to create multiple clusters of massive star formation. The combined winds from these groups of large stars probably blew out bubbles into the direction of least resistance, forming a double bubble. The infrared image was captured by the Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE) Legacy project. The Spitzer picture is a four-channel false-color composite, showing emission from wavelengths of 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (orange) and 8.0 microns (red). |
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Black Widow Nebula Hiding in
…
| Title |
Black Widow Nebula Hiding in the Dust |
| Description |
In the constellation Circinus, where previous visible-light observations by the Digital Sky Survey (left) saw only a faint hourglass-shaped patch of obscuring dust and gas, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope's dust-piercing eyes see a big "Black Widow Nebula" teeming with clusters of massive young stars (right). In the Spitzer image, the two opposing bubbles are being formed in opposite directions by the powerful outflows from massive groups of forming stars. The baby stars can be seen as specks of yellow where the two bubbles overlap. When individual stars form from molecular clouds of gas and dust they produce intense radiation and very strong particle winds. Both the radiation and the stellar winds blow the dust outward from the star creating a cavity or, bubble. In the case of the Black Widow Nebula, astronomers suspect that a large cloud of gas and dust condensed to create multiple clusters of massive star formation. The combined winds from these groups of large stars probably blew out bubbles into the direction of least resistance, forming a double bubble. The infrared image was captured by the Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE) Legacy project. The Spitzer picture is a four-channel false-color composite, showing emission from wavelengths of 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (orange) and 8.0 microns (red). |
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Black Widow Nebula Hiding in
…
| Title |
Black Widow Nebula Hiding in the Dust |
| Description |
In the constellation Circinus, where previous visible-light observations by the Digital Sky Survey (left) saw only a faint hourglass-shaped patch of obscuring dust and gas, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope's dust-piercing eyes see a big "Black Widow Nebula" teeming with clusters of massive young stars (right). In the Spitzer image, the two opposing bubbles are being formed in opposite directions by the powerful outflows from massive groups of forming stars. The baby stars can be seen as specks of yellow where the two bubbles overlap. When individual stars form from molecular clouds of gas and dust they produce intense radiation and very strong particle winds. Both the radiation and the stellar winds blow the dust outward from the star creating a cavity or, bubble. In the case of the Black Widow Nebula, astronomers suspect that a large cloud of gas and dust condensed to create multiple clusters of massive star formation. The combined winds from these groups of large stars probably blew out bubbles into the direction of least resistance, forming a double bubble. The infrared image was captured by the Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE) Legacy project. The Spitzer picture is a four-channel false-color composite, showing emission from wavelengths of 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (orange) and 8.0 microns (red). |
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A Hidden, Massive Star Clust
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| Title |
A Hidden, Massive Star Cluster Awash with Red Supergiants |
| Description |
The sky is a jewelry box full of sparkling stars in these infrared images. The crown jewels are 14 massive stars on the verge of exploding as supernovae. These hefty stars reside in one of the most massive star clusters in the Milky Way Galaxy. The bluish cluster is inside the white box in the large image, which shows the star-studded region around it. A close-up of the cluster can be seen in the inset photo. These large stars are a tip-off to the mass of the young cluster. Astronomers estimate that the cluster is at least 20,000 times as massive as the Sun. Each red supergiant is about 20 times the Sun's mass. The larger color-composite image was taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope for the Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE) Legacy project. The survey penetrates obscuring dust along the thick disk of our galaxy to reveal never-before-seen stars and star clusters. The false colors in the image correspond to infrared-light emission. The stars in the large color-composite image all appear blue because they emit most of their infrared light at shorter wavelengths. The inset image, a false-color composite, was captured by the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS). Astronomers identified the cluster as a potential behemoth after spotting it in the 2MASS catalogue. They then used the Infrared Multi-object Spectrograph at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona to analyze the cluster's colors. From that analysis, they discovered the red supergiants. They confirmed the red supergiants' pedigree by studying the colors of other red supergiants in data taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope. The cluster lies 18,900 light-years away in the direction of the constellation Scutum. It is the first in a survey of 130 potentially massive star clusters in the Milky Way that astronomers will study over the next five years using a variety of telescopes, including the Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes. The Spitzer image was taken April 4, 2004, the 2MASS image on July 4, 1999. The science team that studied the star cluster consists of Don Figer, Space Telescope Science Institute/Rochester Institute of Techology, John MacKenty, Massimo Robberto, and Kester Smith, Space Telescope Science Institute, Francisco Najarro, Instituto de Estructura de la Materia in Madrid, Spain: Rolf Kudritzki, University of Hawaii in Honolulu, and Artemio Herrero, Universidad de La Laguna in Tenerife, Spain. |
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A Hidden, Massive Star Clust
…
| Title |
A Hidden, Massive Star Cluster Awash with Red Supergiants |
| Description |
The sky is a jewelry box full of sparkling stars in these infrared images. The crown jewels are 14 massive stars on the verge of exploding as supernovae. These hefty stars reside in one of the most massive star clusters in the Milky Way Galaxy. The bluish cluster is inside the white box in the large image, which shows the star-studded region around it. A close-up of the cluster can be seen in the inset photo. These large stars are a tip-off to the mass of the young cluster. Astronomers estimate that the cluster is at least 20,000 times as massive as the Sun. Each red supergiant is about 20 times the Sun's mass. The larger color-composite image was taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope for the Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE) Legacy project. The survey penetrates obscuring dust along the thick disk of our galaxy to reveal never-before-seen stars and star clusters. The false colors in the image correspond to infrared-light emission. The stars in the large color-composite image all appear blue because they emit most of their infrared light at shorter wavelengths. The inset image, a false-color composite, was captured by the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS). Astronomers identified the cluster as a potential behemoth after spotting it in the 2MASS catalogue. They then used the Infrared Multi-object Spectrograph at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona to analyze the cluster's colors. From that analysis, they discovered the red supergiants. They confirmed the red supergiants' pedigree by studying the colors of other red supergiants in data taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope. The cluster lies 18,900 light-years away in the direction of the constellation Scutum. It is the first in a survey of 130 potentially massive star clusters in the Milky Way that astronomers will study over the next five years using a variety of telescopes, including the Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes. The Spitzer image was taken April 4, 2004, the 2MASS image on July 4, 1999. The science team that studied the star cluster consists of Don Figer, Space Telescope Science Institute/Rochester Institute of Techology, John MacKenty, Massimo Robberto, and Kester Smith, Space Telescope Science Institute, Francisco Najarro, Instituto de Estructura de la Materia in Madrid, Spain: Rolf Kudritzki, University of Hawaii in Honolulu, and Artemio Herrero, Universidad de La Laguna in Tenerife, Spain. |
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A Hidden, Massive Star Clust
…
| Title |
A Hidden, Massive Star Cluster Awash with Red Supergiants |
| Description |
The sky is a jewelry box full of sparkling stars in these infrared images. The crown jewels are 14 massive stars on the verge of exploding as supernovae. These hefty stars reside in one of the most massive star clusters in the Milky Way Galaxy. The bluish cluster is inside the white box in the large image, which shows the star-studded region around it. A close-up of the cluster can be seen in the inset photo. These large stars are a tip-off to the mass of the young cluster. Astronomers estimate that the cluster is at least 20,000 times as massive as the Sun. Each red supergiant is about 20 times the Sun's mass. The larger color-composite image was taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope for the Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE) Legacy project. The survey penetrates obscuring dust along the thick disk of our galaxy to reveal never-before-seen stars and star clusters. The false colors in the image correspond to infrared-light emission. The stars in the large color-composite image all appear blue because they emit most of their infrared light at shorter wavelengths. The inset image, a false-color composite, was captured by the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS). Astronomers identified the cluster as a potential behemoth after spotting it in the 2MASS catalogue. They then used the Infrared Multi-object Spectrograph at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona to analyze the cluster's colors. From that analysis, they discovered the red supergiants. They confirmed the red supergiants' pedigree by studying the colors of other red supergiants in data taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope. The cluster lies 18,900 light-years away in the direction of the constellation Scutum. It is the first in a survey of 130 potentially massive star clusters in the Milky Way that astronomers will study over the next five years using a variety of telescopes, including the Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes. The Spitzer image was taken April 4, 2004, the 2MASS image on July 4, 1999. The science team that studied the star cluster consists of Don Figer, Space Telescope Science Institute/Rochester Institute of Techology, John MacKenty, Massimo Robberto, and Kester Smith, Space Telescope Science Institute, Francisco Najarro, Instituto de Estructura de la Materia in Madrid, Spain: Rolf Kudritzki, University of Hawaii in Honolulu, and Artemio Herrero, Universidad de La Laguna in Tenerife, Spain. |
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Multiwavelength M81
| Title |
Multiwavelength M81 |
| Description |
This beautiful galaxy is tilted at an oblique angle on to our line of sight, giving a "birds-eye view" of the spiral structure. The galaxy is similar to our Milky Way, but our favorable view provides a better picture of the typical architecture of spiral galaxies. M81 may be undergoing a surge of star formation along the spiral arms due to a close encounter it may have had with its nearby spiral galaxy NGC 3077 and a nearby starburst galaxy (M82) about 300 million years ago. M81 is one of the brightest galaxies that can be seen from the Earth. It is high in the northern sky in the circumpolar constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear. At an apparent magnitude of 6.8 it is just at the limit of naked-eye visibility. The galaxy's angular size is about the same as that of the Full Moon. This image combines data from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) missions. The GALEX ultraviolet data were from the far-UV portion of the spectrum (135 to 175 nanometers). The Spitzer infrared data were taken with the IRAC 4 detector (8 microns). The Hubble data were taken at the blue portion of the spectrum. |
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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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Where Galactic Snakes Live
| Title |
Where Galactic Snakes Live |
| Description |
This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows what astronomers are referring to as a "snake" (upper left) and its surrounding stormy environment. The sinuous object is actually the core of a thick, sooty cloud large enough to swallow dozens of solar systems. In fact, astronomers say the "snake's belly" may be harboring beastly stars in the process of forming. The galactic creepy crawler to the right of the snake is another thick cloud core, in which additional burgeoning massive stars might be lurking. The colorful regions below the two cloud cores are less dense cloud material, in which dust has been heated by starlight and glows with infrared light. Yellow and orange dots throughout the image are monstrous developing stars, the red star on the "belly" of the snake is 20 to 50 times as massive as our sun. The blue dots are foreground stars. The red ball at the bottom left is a "supernova remnant," the remains of massive star that died in a fiery blast. Astronomers speculate that radiation and winds from the star before it died, in addition to a shock wave created when it exploded, might have played a role in creating the snake. Spitzer was able to spot the two black cloud cores using its heat-seeking infrared vision. The objects are hiding in the dusty plane of our Milky Way galaxy, invisible to optical telescopes. Because their heat, or infrared light, can sneak through the dust, they first showed up in infrared images from past missions. The cloud cores are so thick with dust that if you were to somehow transport yourself into the middle of them, you would see nothing but black, not even a star in the sky. Now, that's spooky! Spitzer's new view of the region provides the best look yet at the massive embryonic stars hiding inside the snake. Astronomers say these observations will ultimately help them better understand how massive stars form. By studying the clustering and range of masses of the stellar embryos, they hope to determine if the stars were born in the same way that our low-mass sun was formed -- out of a collapsing cloud of gas and dust -- or by another mechanism in which the environment plays a larger role. The snake is located about 11,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. This false-color image is a composite of infrared data taken by Spitzer's infrared array camera and multiband imaging photometer. Blue represents 3.6-micron light, green shows light of 8 microns, and red is 24-micron light. |
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Where Galactic Snakes Live (
…
| Title |
Where Galactic Snakes Live (Artistically Enhanced) |
| Description |
This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows what astronomers are referring to as a "snake" (upper left) and its surrounding stormy environment. The sinuous object is actually the core of a thick, sooty cloud large enough to swallow dozens of solar systems. In fact, astronomers say the "snake's belly" may be harboring beastly stars in the process of forming. The galactic creepy crawler to the right of the snake is another thick cloud core, in which additional burgeoning massive stars might be lurking. The colorful regions below the two cloud cores are less dense cloud material, in which dust has been heated by starlight and glows with infrared light. Yellow and orange dots throughout the image are monstrous developing stars, the red star on the "belly" of the snake is 20 to 50 times as massive as our sun. The blue dots are foreground stars. The red ball at the bottom left is a "supernova remnant," the remains of massive star that died in a fiery blast. Astronomers speculate that radiation and winds from the star before it died, in addition to a shock wave created when it exploded, might have played a role in creating the snake. Spitzer was able to spot the two black cloud cores using its heat-seeking infrared vision. The objects are hiding in the dusty plane of our Milky Way galaxy, invisible to optical telescopes. Because their heat, or infrared light, can sneak through the dust, they first showed up in infrared images from past missions. The cloud cores are so thick with dust that if you were to somehow transport yourself into the middle of them, you would see nothing but black, not even a star in the sky. Now, that's spooky! Spitzer's new view of the region provides the best look yet at the massive embryonic stars hiding inside the snake. Astronomers say these observations will ultimately help them better understand how massive stars form. By studying the clustering and range of masses of the stellar embryos, they hope to determine if the stars were born in the same way that our low-mass sun was formed -- out of a collapsing cloud of gas and dust -- or by another mechanism in which the environment plays a larger role. The snake is located about 11,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. This false-color image is a composite of infrared data taken by Spitzer's infrared array camera and multiband imaging photometer. Blue represents 3.6-micron light, green shows light of 8 microns, and red is 24-micron light. |
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What's Old Is New in the Lar
…
| 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
…
| 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. |
|
What's Old Is New in the Lar
…
| 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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Whopper Galaxy Collision
| Title |
Whopper Galaxy Collision |
| Description |
One of the biggest galaxy collisions ever observed is taking place at the center of this image. The four white blobs in the middle are large galaxies that have begun to tangle and ultimately merge into a single gargantuan galaxy. The whitish cloud around the colliding galaxies contains billions of stars tossed out during the messy encounter. Other galaxies and stars appear in yellow, orange and red hues. Blue shows hot gas that permeates this distant region of tightly packed galaxies. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope spotted the four-way collision, or merger, in a giant cluster of galaxies, called CL0958+4702, located nearly five billion light-years away. The dots in the picture are a combination of galaxies in the cluster, background galaxies located behind the cluster, and foreground stars in our own Milky Way galaxy. Infrared data from Spitzer are colored red in this picture, while visible-light data from a telescope known as WIYN are green. Areas where green and red overlap appear orange or yellow. Since most galaxies in the cluster contain old stars that are visible to Spitzer and WIYN, those galaxies appear orange. Blue represents X-ray light captured by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. The colliding galaxies appear white because they are in areas where all the colors overlap. The WIYN telescope, located near Tucson, Ariz., is owned and operated by the WIYN Consortium, which consists of the University of Wisconsin, Indiana University, Yale University, and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory. |
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Whopper Galaxy Collision
| Title |
Whopper Galaxy Collision |
| Description |
One of the biggest galaxy collisions ever observed is taking place at the center of this image. The four white blobs in the middle are large galaxies that have begun to tangle and ultimately merge into a single gargantuan galaxy. The whitish cloud around the colliding galaxies contains billions of stars tossed out during the messy encounter. Other galaxies and stars appear in yellow, orange and red hues. Blue shows hot gas that permeates this distant region of tightly packed galaxies. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope spotted the four-way collision, or merger, in a giant cluster of galaxies, called CL0958+4702, located nearly five billion light-years away. The dots in the picture are a combination of galaxies in the cluster, background galaxies located behind the cluster, and foreground stars in our own Milky Way galaxy. Infrared data from Spitzer are colored red in this picture, while visible-light data from a telescope known as WIYN are green. Areas where green and red overlap appear orange or yellow. Since most galaxies in the cluster contain old stars that are visible to Spitzer and WIYN, those galaxies appear orange. Blue represents X-ray light captured by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. The colliding galaxies appear white because they are in areas where all the colors overlap. The WIYN telescope, located near Tucson, Ariz., is owned and operated by the WIYN Consortium, which consists of the University of Wisconsin, Indiana University, Yale University, and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory. |
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Fearsome Foursome
| Title |
Fearsome Foursome |
| Description |
One of the biggest galaxy collisions ever observed is taking place at the center of this image. The four yellow blobs in the middle are large galaxies that have begun to tangle and ultimately merge into a single gargantuan galaxy. The yellowish cloud around the colliding galaxies contains billions of stars tossed out during the messy encounter. Other galaxies and stars appear in yellow and orange hues. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope spotted the four-way collision, or merger, in a giant cluster of galaxies, called CL0958+4702, located nearly five billion light-years away. The dots in the picture are a combination of galaxies in the cluster, background galaxies located behind the cluster, and foreground stars in our own Milky Way galaxy. Infrared data from Spitzer are colored red in this picture, while visible-light data from a telescope known as WIYN are green. Areas where green and red overlap appear orange or yellow. Since most galaxies in the cluster contain old stars that are visible to Spitzer and WIYN, those galaxies appear orange. The WIYN telescope, located near Tucson, Ariz., is owned and operated by the WIYN Consortium, which consists of the University of Wisconsin, Indiana University, Yale University, and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory. |
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Fearsome Foursome
| Title |
Fearsome Foursome |
| Description |
One of the biggest galaxy collisions ever observed is taking place at the center of this image. The four yellow blobs in the middle are large galaxies that have begun to tangle and ultimately merge into a single gargantuan galaxy. The yellowish cloud around the colliding galaxies contains billions of stars tossed out during the messy encounter. Other galaxies and stars appear in yellow and orange hues. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope spotted the four-way collision, or merger, in a giant cluster of galaxies, called CL0958+4702, located nearly five billion light-years away. The dots in the picture are a combination of galaxies in the cluster, background galaxies located behind the cluster, and foreground stars in our own Milky Way galaxy. Infrared data from Spitzer are colored red in this picture, while visible-light data from a telescope known as WIYN are green. Areas where green and red overlap appear orange or yellow. Since most galaxies in the cluster contain old stars that are visible to Spitzer and WIYN, those galaxies appear orange. The WIYN telescope, located near Tucson, Ariz., is owned and operated by the WIYN Consortium, which consists of the University of Wisconsin, Indiana University, Yale University, and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory. |
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Galactic Fossil Revealed in
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| Title |
Galactic Fossil Revealed in Infrared Light |
| Description |
This animation demonstrates the power of infrared light to see what visible light cannot -- a newfound bundle of stars called a globular cluster. The movie shifts from a visible-light image to a near-infrared image to a new mid-infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The visible-light image is from the California Institute of Technology's Digitized Sky Survey and the near-infrared image is from the NASA-funded Two Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS). Globular clusters date back to the birth of our galaxy, 13 or so billion years ago. There are about 150 clusters sprinkled around the core of the galaxy like seeds in a pumpkin. Astronomers use these galactic "fossils" as tools for studying the age and formation of the Milky Way. Most clusters orbit around the center of the galaxy well above its dust-enshrouded disc, or plane, while making brief, repeated passes through the plane that each last about a million years. Spitzer, with infrared eyes that can see into the dusty galactic plane, first spotted the newfound cluster during its current pass. Astronomers then searched for past references to the cluster and found only one undocumented image from the Two Micron All-Sky Survey. Follow-up observations with the University of Wyoming Infrared Observatory helped set the distance of the new cluster at about 9,000 light-years from Earth -- closer than most clusters -- and set the mass at the equivalent of 300,000 Suns. The cluster's apparent size, as viewed from Earth, is comparable to a grain of rice held at arm's length. It is located in the constellation Aquila. Astronomers believe that this cluster may be one of the last in our galaxy to be uncovered. The Two Micron All-Sky Survey false-color image was obtained using near-infrared wavelengths ranging from 1.3 to 2.2 microns. The Spitzer false-color image composite was taken on April 21, 2004, by its infrared array camera. It is composed of images obtained at four mid-infrared wavelengths: 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (orange) and 8 microns (red). The true-color image from the Digitized Sky Survey was acquired with red and blue filters. |
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Spitzer Digs Up Galactic Fos
…
| Title |
Spitzer Digs Up Galactic Fossil |
| Description |
This false-color image taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows a globular cluster previously hidden in the dusty plane of our Milky Way galaxy. Globular clusters are compact bundles of old stars that date back to the birth of our galaxy, 13 or so billion years ago. Astronomers use these galactic "fossils" as tools for studying the age and formation of the Milky Way. Most clusters orbit around the center of the galaxy well above its dust-enshrouded disc, or plane, while making brief, repeated passes through the plane that each last about a million years. Spitzer, with infrared eyes that can see into the dusty galactic plane, first spotted the newfound cluster during its current pass. A visible-light image (inset) shows only a dark patch of sky. The red streak behind the core of the cluster is a dust cloud, which may indicate the cluster's interaction with the Milky Way. Alternatively, this cloud may lie coincidentally along Spitzer's line of sight. Follow-up observations with the University of Wyoming Infrared Observatory helped set the distance of the new cluster at about 9,000 light-years from Earth -- closer than most clusters -- and set the mass at the equivalent of 300,000 Suns. The cluster's apparent size, as viewed from Earth, is comparable to a grain of rice held at arm's length. It is located in the constellation Aquila. Astronomers believe that this cluster may be one of the last in our galaxy to be uncovered. This image composite was taken on April 21, 2004, by Spitzer's infrared array camera. It is composed of images obtained at four wavelengths: 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (orange) and 8 microns (red). The visible-light image is from the Digitized Sky Survey, California University of Technology, Pasadena, Calif. |
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Spitzer Digs Up Galactic Fos
…
| Title |
Spitzer Digs Up Galactic Fossil |
| Description |
This false-color image taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows a globular cluster previously hidden in the dusty plane of our Milky Way galaxy. Globular clusters are compact bundles of old stars that date back to the birth of our galaxy, 13 or so billion years ago. Astronomers use these galactic "fossils" as tools for studying the age and formation of the Milky Way. Most clusters orbit around the center of the galaxy well above its dust-enshrouded disc, or plane, while making brief, repeated passes through the plane that each last about a million years. Spitzer, with infrared eyes that can see into the dusty galactic plane, first spotted the newfound cluster during its current pass. A visible-light image (inset) shows only a dark patch of sky. The red streak behind the core of the cluster is a dust cloud, which may indicate the cluster's interaction with the Milky Way. Alternatively, this cloud may lie coincidentally along Spitzer's line of sight. Follow-up observations with the University of Wyoming Infrared Observatory helped set the distance of the new cluster at about 9,000 light-years from Earth -- closer than most clusters -- and set the mass at the equivalent of 300,000 Suns. The cluster's apparent size, as viewed from Earth, is comparable to a grain of rice held at arm's length. It is located in the constellation Aquila. Astronomers believe that this cluster may be one of the last in our galaxy to be uncovered. This image composite was taken on April 21, 2004, by Spitzer's infrared array camera. It is composed of images obtained at four wavelengths: 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (orange) and 8 microns (red). The visible-light image is from the Digitized Sky Survey, California University of Technology, Pasadena, Calif. |
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Spitzer Digs Up Galactic Fos
…
| Title |
Spitzer Digs Up Galactic Fossil |
| Description |
This false-color image taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows a globular cluster previously hidden in the dusty plane of our Milky Way galaxy. Globular clusters are compact bundles of old stars that date back to the birth of our galaxy, 13 or so billion years ago. Astronomers use these galactic "fossils" as tools for studying the age and formation of the Milky Way. Most clusters orbit around the center of the galaxy well above its dust-enshrouded disc, or plane, while making brief, repeated passes through the plane that each last about a million years. Spitzer, with infrared eyes that can see into the dusty galactic plane, first spotted the newfound cluster during its current pass. A visible-light image (inset) shows only a dark patch of sky. The red streak behind the core of the cluster is a dust cloud, which may indicate the cluster's interaction with the Milky Way. Alternatively, this cloud may lie coincidentally along Spitzer's line of sight. Follow-up observations with the University of Wyoming Infrared Observatory helped set the distance of the new cluster at about 9,000 light-years from Earth -- closer than most clusters -- and set the mass at the equivalent of 300,000 Suns. The cluster's apparent size, as viewed from Earth, is comparable to a grain of rice held at arm's length. It is located in the constellation Aquila. Astronomers believe that this cluster may be one of the last in our galaxy to be uncovered. This image composite was taken on April 21, 2004, by Spitzer's infrared array camera. It is composed of images obtained at four wavelengths: 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (orange) and 8 microns (red). The visible-light image is from the Digitized Sky Survey, California University of Technology, Pasadena, Calif. |
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Galactic Fossil Found Behind
…
| Title |
Galactic Fossil Found Behind Curtain of Dust |
| Description |
This image mosaic shows the same patch of sky in various wavelengths of light. While the visible-light image (left) shows a dark sky speckled with stars, infrared images (middle and right), reveal a never-before-seen bundle of stars, called a globular cluster. The left panel is from the California Institute of Technology's Digitized Sky Survey, the middle panel includes images from the NASA-funded Two Micron All-Sky Survey and the University of Wyoming Infrared Observatory (circle inset), and the right panel is from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Globular clusters date back to the birth of our galaxy, 13 or so billion years ago. There are about 150 clusters sprinkled around the core of the galaxy like seeds in a pumpkin. Astronomers use these galactic "fossils" as tools for studying the age and formation of the Milky Way. Most clusters orbit around the center of the galaxy well above its dust-enshrouded disc, or plane, while making brief, repeated passes through the plane that each last about a million years. Spitzer, with infrared eyes that can see into the dusty galactic plane, first spotted the newfound cluster during its current pass. Astronomers then searched for past references to the cluster and found only one undocumented image from the Two Micron All-Sky Survey. Follow-up observations with the University of Wyoming Infrared Observatory helped set the distance of the new cluster at about 9,000 light-years from Earth -- closer than most clusters -- and set the mass at the equivalent of 300,000 Suns. The cluster's apparent size, as viewed from Earth, is comparable to a grain of rice held at arm's length. It is located in the constellation Aquila. Astronomers believe that this cluster may be one of the last in our galaxy to be uncovered. The Two Micron All-Sky Survey false-color image was obtained using near-infrared wavelengths ranging from 1.3 to 2.2 microns. The University of Wyoming Observatory false-color image was captured on July 31, 2004, at wavelengths ranging from 1.2 to 2.2 microns. The Spitzer false-color image composite was taken on April 21, 2004, by its infrared array camera. It is composed of images obtained at four mid-infrared wavelengths: 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (orange) and 8 microns (red). |
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Neptune's Stormy Disposition
| title |
Neptune's Stormy Disposition |
| date |
08.11.1998 |
| description |
Using powerful ground-and space-based telescopes, scientists have obtained a moving look at some of the wildest, weirdest weather in the solar system. Combining simultaneous observations of Neptune made with the Hubble Space Telescope and NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, a team of scientists led by Lawrence A. Sromovsky of the University of Wisconsin-Madison has captured the most insightful images to date of a planet whose blustery weather -- monster storms and equatorial winds of 900 miles per hour -- bewilders scientists. The weather on Neptune, the eighth planet from the sun, is an enigma to begin with. The mechanism that drives its near-supersonic winds and giant storms has yet to be determined. On Earth, weather is driven by energy from the sun as it heats the atmosphere and oceans. On Neptune, the sun is 900 times dimmer and scientists have yet to understand how Neptune's weather-generating machinery can be so efficient. "It's an efficient weather machine compared to Earth," said Sromovsky. "It seems to run on almost no energy." In an effort to dissect the distant planet's atmosphere and monitor its bizarre weather, Sromovsky and his colleagues obtained a series of measurements and images over the span of three of Neptune's rotations. From those observations, Sromovsky said it is possible to measure Neptune's circulation and view a "strange menagerie of variable, discrete cloud features and zonal bands" of weather. Moreover, the new observations enabled Sromovsky's team to probe some of the deeper features of the atmosphere and to map Neptune's cloud tops. "We can show some clouds are higher than others, that altitudes vary," he said. Knowing something about the topography of Neptune's clouds, provides a direct way to measure Neptune's powerful winds. A looming mystery, he said, is the fate of huge dark spots, possibly giant storms. When the planetary probe Voyager visited Neptune in 1989, it detected the Great Dark Spot, a pulsating feature nearly the size of the Earth itself. Two years ago, Hubble observations showed the spot had disappeared, and that another, smaller spot had emerged. But instead of growing to a large-scale storm like the Great Dark Spot, the new spot appears to be trapped at a fixed latitude and may be declining in intensity, said Sromovsky, a senior scientist at UW-Madison's Space Science and Engineering Center. "They behave like storms, and the Great Dark Spot was an exaggerated features we haven't seen on any other planet. They seem to come and go, and rather than an exciting development of these dark spots, they dissipate." Another strange aspect of the distant planet's weather are distinct bands of weather that run parallel to the Neptunian equator. The weather bands encircle the planet and, in some respects, may be similar to the equatorial region of the Earth where tropical heat provides abundant energy to make clouds. "We can see regions of latitude where Neptune, consistently generates bright clouds," said Sromovsky. The regions are both above and below the planet's equator, but he added that it was uncertain what their explanation is in terms of atmospheric circulation. Sromovsky said that compared to the look provided by the Voyager spacecraft, Neptune is a different place: "The character of Neptune is different from what it was at the time of Voyager. The planet seems stable, yet different." Sromovsky's Hubble observations were made with Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 and the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer. The different instruments allowed observations to be made in a variety of wavelengths, each providing a different set of information about Neptune's clouds, their structures and how they circulate. *Image Credit*: NASA |
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Neptune's Seasons
| title |
Neptune's Seasons |
| description |
Springtime is blooming on Neptune! This might sound like an oxymoron because Neptune is the farthest and coldest of the major planets. But observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope reveal an increase in Neptune's brightness in the southern hemisphere. Astronomers consider this increase a harbinger of seasonal change. The observations, made over six years, show a distinct increase in the amount and brightness of the clouds encircling the planet's southern hemisphere. More on Neptune's seasons. *Image Credit*: NASA, L. Sromovsky, and P. Fry (University of Wisconsin-Madison) |
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Uranus from Earth
| title |
Uranus from Earth |
| date |
07.11.2004 |
| description |
An infrared composite image of the two hemispheres of Uranus obtained with Keck adaptive optics. The component colors of blue, green, and red were obtained from images made at near infrared wavelengths of 1.26, 1.62, and 2.1 microns respectively. The images were obtained on July 11 and 12, 2004. The representative balance of these infrared images which were selected to display the vertical structure of atmospheric features gives a reddish tint to the rings, an artifact of the process. The North pole is at 4 o'clock. *Image Credit*: Lawrence Sromovsky, University of Wisconsin-Madison/ W. M. Keck Observatory |
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Chandra X-ray & Spitzer Infr
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| Name |
Chandra X-ray & Spitzer Infrared Image of Westerlund 2 |
|
Spitzer Infrared Images of W
…
| Name |
Spitzer Infrared Images of Westerlund 2 |
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More Images of NGC 1569
| Name |
More Images of NGC 1569 |
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More Images of NGC 1569
| Name |
More Images of NGC 1569 |
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Chandra X-ray Image with Sca
…
| Name |
Chandra X-ray Image with Scale Bar |
|
Lockman Hole: Weight Limits
…
| Name |
Lockman Hole: Weight Limits for the Biggest Black Holes |
| Category |
Black Holes, Cosmology/Deep Fields/X-ray Background |
| Release Date |
February 15, 2005 |
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Circinus X-1: Neutron Stars
…
| Name |
Circinus X-1: Neutron Stars Join The Black Hole Jet Set |
| Category |
Neutron Stars/X-ray Binaries |
| Release Date |
June 27, 2007 |
|
Astronaut Deke Slayton durin
…
| Title |
Astronaut Deke Slayton during World War II |
| Full Description |
This World War II photograph shows future Astronaut Donald "Deke" K. Slayton (on right) and 1st Lt. Ed Steinman (on left) beside a Douglas A-26 bomber in the Pacific Theater of Operations during the summer of 1945. While the exact location is unknown, the photograph was most likely taken on Okinawa. 1st Lt. Slayton was one of only two NASA astronauts to fly combat missions during World War II. Slayton was born in 1924 in Sparta, Wisconsin, and joined the Army Air Force soon after high school. He completed flight training in April 1943, and spent a year in Europe as a B-25 pilot with the 340th Bombardment Group, completing 56 combat missions. In 1944, he returned to the United States for a year before being assigned to Okinawa with the 319th Bombardment Group. As part of the first group to fly combat with the A-26 aircraft, he flew seven combat missions over Japan. Slayton logged more the 6,600 hours of flying time, including 5,100 in jet aircraft. He was named as one of the seven Mercury astronauts in April 1959 and was scheduled to pilot the Mercury- Atlas 7 mission, but a heart condition prevented him from flying. After years of work as the Coordinator of Astronaut Activities and Director of Flight Crew Operations, he was again declared fit to fly in March 1972. Three years later he participated in the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project as the Apollo docking module pilot. While he did not fly again, he continued to work for NASA until 1982 in a variety of capacities. He died on June 13, 1993. |
| Date |
1945 |
| NASA Center |
Headquarters |
|
Ring Around a Galaxy
| Title |
Ring Around a Galaxy |
| Full Description |
Space Telescope Science Institute astronomers are giving the public chances to decide where to aim NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Guided by 8,000 Internet voters, Hubble has already been used to take a close-up, multi-color picture of the most popular object from a list of candidates, the extraordinary "polar-ring" galaxy NGC 4650A. Located about 130 million light-years away, NGC 4650A is one of only 100 known polar-ring galaxies. Their unusual disk-ring structure is not yet understood fully. One possibility is that polar rings are the remnants of colossal collisions between two galaxies sometime in the distant past, probably at least 1 billion years ago. What is left of one galaxy has become the rotating inner disk of old red stars in the center. Meanwhile, another smaller galaxy which ventured too close was probably severely damaged or destroyed. The bright bluish clumps, which are especially prominent in the outer parts of the ring, are regions containing luminous young stars, examples of stellar rebirth from the remnants of an ancient galactic disaster. The polar ring appears to be highly distorted. No regular spiral pattern stands out in the main part of the ring, and the presence of young stars below the main ring on one side and above on the other shows that the ring is warped and does not lie in one plane. Determining the typical ages of the stars in the polar ring is an initial goal of our Polar Ring Science Team that can provide a clue to the evolution of this unusual galaxy. The HST exposures were acquired by the Hubble Heritage Team, consisting of Keith Noll, Howard Bond, Carol Christian, Jayanne English, Lisa Frattare, Forrest Hamilton, Anne Kinney and Zolt Levay, and guest collaborators Jay Gallagher (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Lynn Matthews (National Radio Astronomy Observatory-Charlottesville), and Linda Sparke (University of Wisconsin-Madison). |
| Date |
05/06/1999 |
| NASA Center |
Hubble Space Telescope Center |
|
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| Title |
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| Title |
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The Trifid Nebula: Stellar S
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| Title |
The Trifid Nebula: Stellar Sibling Rivalry |
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