Astronomy Picture of the Day |
APOD: 2009 March 5 - IC 5146: The Cocoon Nebula
Explanation:
Inside the Cocoon Nebula is a newly developing cluster of stars.
Cataloged as
IC 5146, the beautiful
nebula is nearly 15
light-years wide, located
some 4,000 light years away toward the northern constellation
Cygnus.
Like other star forming regions, it stands out
in red, glowing, hydrogen gas
excited by young, hot stars
and blue, dust-reflected starlight
at the edge of an otherwise invisible
molecular cloud.
In fact, the bright star near the center of this nebula is likely
only a few hundred thousand years old, powering the nebular glow as it
clears out
a cavity in the molecular
cloud's star forming dust and gas.
This
exceptionally deep color view
of the Cocoon Nebula traces
tantalizing features within and surrounding the dusty
stellar
nursery.
APOD: 2009 February 20 - Snake in the Dark
Explanation:
Dark nebulae snake
across a gorgeous expanse of stars in
this
telescopic view toward the
pronounceable constellation
Ophiuchus
and the center of our Milky Way Galaxy.
In fact, the twisting central shape seen here is well known as the
Snake Nebula.
It is also listed as Barnard 72 (B72), one of 182
dark markings of the sky
cataloged in the early 20th century
by astronomer E. E. Barnard.
Unlike bright emission nebulae and star clusters,
Barnard's nebulae
are interstellar dark clouds of obscuring
gas and dust.
Their shapes are visible in
cosmic silhouette
because they lie in the foreground along
the line
of sight to rich star fields
and glowing stellar nurseries near the plane of our Galaxy.
Many of Barnard's dark nebulae are themselves likely sites
of future star formation.
Barnard 72
is about 650 light years away.
With bluish star 44 Ophiuchi at bottom left, the intriguing star
field spans nearly 2 degrees or almost 20 light-years at the estimated
distance of the Snake Nebula.
APOD: 2009 February 5 - NGC 604: X-rays from a Giant Stellar Nursery
Explanation:
Some 3 million light-years distant in nearby spiral
galaxy M33,
giant stellar nursery
NGC 604 is
about 1,300 light-years across,
or nearly 100 times the size of the
Orion Nebula.
In fact, among the star forming regions within the Local Group of
galaxies, NGC 604 is second in size only to 30 Doradus,
also known as
the Tarantula Nebula in the
Large Magellanic Cloud.
This space-age
color composite of X-ray data (in blue hues)
from the Chandra Observatory, and
Hubble optical data
shows that NGC 604's cavernous bubbles and cavities are filled with a
hot, tenuous,
X-ray
emitting gas.
Intriguingly, NGC 604 itself is divided by
a wall of relatively cool gas.
On the western (right) side of the nebula,
measurements
indicate that material is likely
heated to X-ray temperatures by the energetic winds
from a cluster of about 200 young, massive stars.
On the eastern side the X-ray filled cavities seem to be older,
suggesting
supernova explosions from the end of
massive star evolution contribute to their formation.
APOD: 2009 January 17 - IC 410 and NGC 1893
Explanation:
Dusty emission nebula
IC 410 lies about 12,000 light-years away in the northern constellation
Auriga.
The cloud of glowing gas is over 100 light-years across,
sculpted by
stellar
winds and radiation from embedded open star cluster NGC 1893.
Formed
in the interstellar cloud
a mere
4 million years ago, bright cluster stars are seen just below the
prominent dark dust
cloud near picture center.
Notable near the 7 o'clock position
are two relatively dense streamers of material trailing
away from the nebula's central regions.
Potentially sites of ongoing star formation, these
cosmic tadpole
shapes are about 10 light-years long.
Emission from sulfur atoms is shown in red, hydrogen atoms in green,
and oxygen in blue hues in this
false-color, narrow band
composite image.
APOD: 2008 December 29 - NGC 1569: Starburst in a Dwarf Irregular Galaxy
Explanation:
Grand spiral galaxies
often seem to get all the glory, flaunting
their young, bright, blue star clusters in beautiful,
symmetric spiral arms.
But small, irregular galaxies
form stars too.
In fact, as pictured here, dwarf galaxy NGC 1569 is apparently
undergoing a burst of star forming activity, thought
to have begun over 25 million years ago.
The resulting turbulent environment is
fed by
supernova explosions as the cosmic detonations
spew out material and trigger further star formation.
Two massive star clusters - youthful counterparts to
globular
star clusters
in our own spiral Milky Way galaxy - are seen left of center in the gorgeous
Hubble Space Telescope image.
The above picture spans about 8,000 light-years across NGC 1569.
A mere 11 million light-years distant,
this relatively close starburst galaxy offers astronomers an
excellent opportunity
to study
stellar populations in rapidly evolving galaxies.
NGC 1569 lies in the
long-necked
constellation
Camelopardalis.
APOD: 2008 December 26 - The Elephant's Trunk in IC 1396
Explanation:
Like an illustration in a galactic
Just So Story, the
Elephant's Trunk Nebula
winds through the emission nebula and young star cluster
complex IC 1396, in the high and far off
constellation
of
Cepheus.
Of course, this cosmic elephant's trunk is over 20 light-years long.
This false-color
composite was recorded through
narrow band filters
that transmit the light from hydrogen (in green), sulfur (in red),
and oxygen (in blue)
atoms in the region.
The resulting image highlights the bright swept-back ridges
that outline pockets of cool
interstellar
dust and gas.
Such embedded, dark,
tendril-shaped clouds contain the
raw material for
star formation and hide
protostars within the obscuring cosmic dust.
Nearly 3,000
light-years distant,
the relatively faint
IC
1396 complex covers a large region
on the sky, spanning over 5 degrees.
This dramatic close-up covers a 2 degree wide field,
about the size of 4 Full Moons.
APOD: 2008 December 10 - Portrait of NGC 281
Explanation:
Look through the cosmic cloud cataloged as
NGC 281
and it's almost easy to miss stars of open cluster
IC 1590.
But, formed within the nebula, that cluster's young, massive stars
ultimately power the pervasive
nebular glow.
The eye-catching shapes looming in
this colorful
portrait of NGC 281
are sculpted columns and dense
dust globules seen in silhouette,
eroded by intense, energetic winds and radiation
from the hot cluster stars.
If they survive long enough,
the dusty structures could also be sites of future star formation.
Sometimes called the Pacman Nebula because
of its overall shape in
wider-field
views, NGC 281 is about 10,000 light-years away in the constellation
Cassiopeia.
This composite image was made through
narrow-band filters
and shows emission from the nebula's hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen atoms
in green, red, and blue hues.
It spans over 80 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 281.
APOD: 2008 November 28 - Probably a Planet for Beta Pic
Explanation:
A mere 50 light-years away, young star
Beta Pictoris
became one of the most important stars in the sky
in the early 1980s.
Satellite and ground-based telescopic observations revealed
the presence of a surrounding outer, dusty,
debris disk and an inner
clear zone about the size of our solar system -- strong evidence for
the formation of planets.
Now, infrared
observations
from European Southern Observatory telescopes
incorporated in this composite
offer a detection of a source in the clear zone
that is most likely a
giant planet orbiting Beta Pic.
Designated Beta Pictoris b, the new source is
more than 1,000 times fainter than the direct starlight that has been
carefully subtracted
from the image data.
It is aligned with the disk at a projected distance that would place
it near the orbit of Saturn if found in our solar system.
Confirmation
that the new source is a planet will come if future
observations can demonstrate that the source moves in an orbit around
the star.
When confirmed, it will be the closest planet to its parent star
directly imaged ...
so far.
APOD: 2008 November 11 - The Cosmic Web of the Tarantula Nebula
Explanation:
First
cataloged as a star, 30 Doradus is actually an
immense star forming region in nearby galaxy
The Large Magellanic Cloud.
The region's spidery appearance is responsible for its popular name,
the Tarantula
nebula, except that this tarantula is about 1,000
light-years across, and 180,000 light-years
away in the southern constellation
Dorado.
If the Tarantula
nebula were at the distance of the
Orion Nebula
(1,500 light-years), the nearest stellar nursery to Earth, it
would appear to cover about 30 degrees (60
full moons)
on the sky.
The spindly arms of the
Tarantula nebula
surround
NGC 2070,
a star cluster that contains some of the brightest,
most massive stars known.
Intriguing details of the nebula are visible in
this
scientifically-colored image.
The cosmic Tarantula
also lies near the site of the closest
recent supernova.
APOD: 2008 October 30 - Haunting the Cepheus Flare
Explanation:
Spooky shapes seem to haunt
this starry expanse,
drifting through the night in the royal constellation
Cepheus.
Of course, the shapes are cosmic dust clouds faintly visible
in dimly reflected starlight.
Far from your own neighborhood
on planet Earth, they lurk at the edge of the
Cepheus Flare
molecular cloud complex some 1,200 light-years away.
Over 2 light-years across and brighter than the other ghostly apparitions,
the nebula known as
Sh2-136
near the center of the field is even seen in infrared light.
Also cataloged as
Bok globule
CB230,
the core of that cloud is collapsing
and is likely a binary star system in the early stages of formation.
APOD: 2008 October 26 - Massive Stars in Open Cluster Pismis 24
Explanation:
How massive can a normal star be?
Estimates made from distance, brightness and standard
solar models had given one star in the
open cluster Pismis 24
over 200 times the mass of our Sun, making it a record holder.
This star is the brightest object located just above the gas front in the
above image.
Close inspection of images taken recently with the
Hubble Space Telescope,
however, have shown that Pismis 24-1 derives its
brilliant luminosity
not from a single star but from
three at least.
Component stars would still remain near 100 solar masses,
making them among the more
massive stars currently on record.
Toward the bottom of the image, stars are still forming in the associated
emission nebula
NGC 6357, including several that appear to be
breaking out and illuminating a
spectacular cocoon.
APOD: 2008 October 25 - NGC 602 and Beyond
Explanation:
Near the outskirts of the
Small Magellanic Cloud,
a satellite galaxy some 200 thousand light-years distant,
lies 5 million year
young
star cluster NGC 602.
Surrounded by natal gas and dust, NGC 602 is featured in this
stunning Hubble image of the region.
Fantastic ridges and swept
back shapes strongly suggest that
energetic radiation and shock waves from NGC 602's massive
young stars have eroded the dusty material and triggered a
progression
of star formation moving away from the cluster's center.
At the estimated distance of the Small Magellanic Cloud, the
picture spans about 200 light-years, but
a tantalizing assortment of
background galaxies are also visible in the
sharp Hubble view.
The background galaxies are hundreds of millions of
light-years or more beyond NGC 602.
APOD: 2008 October 19 - In the Center of the Lagoon Nebula
Explanation:
The center of the Lagoon Nebula is a
whirlwind
of spectacular star formation.
Visible on the upper left, at least two long funnel-shaped clouds,
each roughly half a light-year long, have been formed by extreme
stellar winds
and intense energetic starlight.
The tremendously bright nearby star,
Hershel 36, lights the area.
Vast walls of dust hide and
redden
other hot young stars.
As energy from these stars pours into the
cool dust and gas,
large temperature differences in
adjoining regions can be created generating
shearing
winds which may cause the funnels.
This picture, spanning about 5 light years, was taken in 1995 by the
orbiting Hubble Space Telescope.
The
Lagoon Nebula, also known as
M8, lies about 5000
light
years distant toward the
constellation of
Sagittarius.
APOD: 2008 October 18 - Sharpless 171
Explanation:
Cosmic pillars of cold
molecular gas and clouds of dark dust
lie within Sharpless 171, a star-forming region
some 3,000 light-years away in the royal constellation
Cepheus.
This tantalizing false-color skyscape
spans about 20 light-years across
the nebula's bright central region.
It also highlights the pervasive glow of
emission
from atomic gas using narrowband filters and a
color palette made
popular in Hubble Space Telescope images.
Powering the nebular
glow are the young, hot stars of
a newly formed cluster, Berkeley 59.
Of course, this star-forming region is
entry
number 171 in
the famous 1959 catalog of emission nebulae compiled by astronomer
Stewart Sharpless.
APOD: 2008 September 28 - Young Stars of NGC 346
Explanation:
The massive stars of NGC 346
are short lived, but very
energetic.
The star cluster is embedded in
the largest star forming region in the
Small Magellanic Cloud,
some 210,000 light-years distant.
Their winds and radiation sweep out an interstellar
cavern in the gas and dust cloud about 200 light-years across,
triggering star formation and sculpting
the region's dense inner edge.
Cataloged as N66, the star forming region also appears to
contain a large population of
infant stars.
A mere 3 to 5 million years old and not yet burning hydrogen in their cores,the infant stars are strewn about the embedded star cluster.
In the above false-color
Hubble Space Telescope image,
visible and near-infrared light are seen as blue and green, while light from atomic
hydrogen emission is red.
APOD: 2008 September 27 - M83: The Thousand Ruby Galaxy
Explanation:
Big, bright, and beautiful,
spiral galaxy M83
lies a mere twelve million light-years away, near the southeastern
tip of the very long constellation
Hydra.
Prominent spiral arms traced by dark dust lanes and blue star
clusters lend this galaxy its popular name of the Southern Pinwheel.
But reddish
star forming regions
that dot the sweeping arms
highlighted in
this sparkling color composite also suggest
another nickname,
The Thousand-Ruby Galaxy.
About 40,000 light-years across, M83 is a member of a group of
galaxies that includes active galaxy
Centaurus A.
The core of M83 itself is bright
at x-ray energies, showing a high
concentration of neutron stars and black holes left from
an intense burst of star formation.
The sharp image, based on archival data from the European Southern
Observatory's Wide Field Imager camera,
also features
spiky
foreground Milky Way stars and distant background
galaxies.
APOD: 2008 September 25 - The Case of the Very Dusty Binary Star
Explanation:
For astronomers,
close binary star system BD+20 307 originally stood out because it
is extremely dusty.
A substantial amount of
warm dust surrounding it causes
the system to appear exceptionally bright at
infrared wavelengths.
Of course, dust associated with planet formation is often
detected
around young stars, stars only a few
million years old.
But the BD+20 307 system has now been found to be at least a few
billion years old,
an age comparable to the age of our own Solar System.
The large amount of warm dust is
likely the debris from a relatively recent
collision of planet-sized
objects on the scale of, say, Earth and Venus,
in the BD+20 307 system.
Reminiscent of the classic scifi novel
When
Worlds Collide,
the dramatic illustration offers a depiction of
the catastrophic event.
Ironically, this indirect evidence of a destructive
planetary collision could also be the first indication that
planetary
systems can form around
close binary stars.
BD+20 307 is about 300 light-years distant toward the headstrong
constellation Aries.
APOD: 2008 September 19 - Companion of a Young, Sun-like Star
Explanation:
Located just 500 light-years away toward the constellation
Scorpius,
this star is only slightly less massive and a little cooler than
the Sun.
But it is much younger, a few
million years old
compared to the middle-aged Sun's 5
billion years.
This sharp infrared
image shows the young star has a likely companion
positioned above and left - a hot planet with about 8 times
the mass of Jupiter, orbiting a whopping 330 times the Earth-Sun
distance from its parent star.
The young planetary companion is still hot and relatively
bright in
infrared light due to
the heat generated during its formation by
gravitational contraction.
In fact, such newborn planets are easier to detect
before they age and cool, becoming much fainter.
Though over 300
extrasolar
planets have been found using other
techniques, this picture likely represents the
first direct image
of a planet belonging to a star
similar to the Sun.
APOD: 2008 September 16 - W5: Pillars of Star Creation
Explanation:
How do stars form?
A study of star forming region
W5 by the sun-orbiting
Spitzer
Space Telescope provides clear clues by recording that massive stars near the center of empty cavities are older than stars near the edges.
A likely reason for this is that the older stars in the center are actually
triggering
the formation of the younger edge stars.
The triggered
star formation
occurs when hot outflowing gas compresses cooler gas into
knots dense
enough to gravitationally contract into stars.
Spectacular pillars,
left slowly evaporating from the hot outflowing gas,
provide further visual clues.
In the
above scientifically-colored
infrared image, red indicates heated
dust, while white and green
indicate particularly dense gas clouds.
W5
is also known as
IC 1848, and
together with IC 1805
form a complex region of star formation popularly dubbed the
Heart
and Soul Nebulas.
The above image highlights a part of W5 spanning about 2,000
light years that is rich in
star forming pillars.
W5 lies about 6,500 light years away toward the
constellation of
Cassiopeia.
APOD: 2008 August 29 - Generations of Stars in W5
Explanation:
Giant star forming region W5 is over 200 light-years across
and about 6,500 light-years away in the constellation
Cassiopeia.
W5's sculpted clouds of cold gas and dust seem to
form fantastic shapes in this
impressive mosaic of
infrared images
from the
Spitzer
Space Telescope.
In fact, the area on the right includes the structures previously
dubbed the Mountains of Creation.
New evidence indicates
that successive generations of stars
formed in the W5 region in an expanding pattern of triggered
star
formation.
The older, earlier generations of stars seem to cluster
near the middle of the enormous cavities, with younger stars
seen near the rims.
Winds and radiation from the older, central stars likely carve out
and compress surrounding
interstellar
material, triggering the
collapse that gave rise to younger, later generations of stars
farther out.
In
the false-color image,
heated dust still within the cavities
appears red, while the youngest stars are forming in the whitish areas.
W5 is also known as IC 1848, and together with IC 1805 it is part of
a complex
region popularly dubbed the
Heart and
Soul Nebulae.
APOD: 2008 August 27 - IC 5146: The Cocoon Nebula
Explanation:
Inside the Cocoon Nebula is a newly developing cluster of stars.
Cataloged as
IC 5146, the beautiful nebula is nearly 15
light-years wide, located
some 4,000 light years away toward the northern constellation
Cygnus.
Like other star forming regions, it stands out
in red, glowing, hydrogen gas
excited by young, hot stars
and blue, dust-reflected starlight
at the edge of an otherwise invisible
molecular cloud.
In fact, the bright star near the center of this nebula is likely
only a few hundred thousand years old, powering the nebular glow as it
clears out
a cavity in the molecular
cloud's star forming dust and gas.
This color view
of the Cocoon Nebula traces remarkably
subtle features within and surrounding the dusty
stellar
nursery.
APOD: 2008 July 19 - M16 and the Eagle Nebula
Explanation:
Young star cluster
M16 is
surrounded by natal clouds of cosmic
dust and glowing gas also known as The Eagle Nebula.
This beautifully
detailed image of the region includes
fantastic
shapes made famous in
well-known Hubble Space
Telescope close-ups of the starforming complex.
Described as elephant trunks or
Pillars of Creation, dense,
dusty columns rising near the center are light-years in length but
are gravitationally contracting
to
form stars.
Energetic radiation from the cluster stars erodes material near
the tips, eventually exposing the embedded new stars.
Extending from the upper left edge of the nebula is another dusty
starforming column known as the
Fairy of Eagle Nebula.
M16 and the Eagle Nebula lie about 7,000 light-years away,
an easy target for binoculars or small telescopes in a
nebula rich part of the sky
toward the split constellation
Serpens Cauda
(the tail of the snake).
APOD: 2008 July 11 - The Far 3kpc Arm
Explanation:
A major discovery was lurking in the data.
By accident, while preparing a talk on the
Galaxy's spiral arms for
a meeting of the
American Astronomical Society,
Tom Dame
(Harvard-Smithsonian CfA) found it -
a new
spiral arm in the Milky Way.
The arm is labeled in
this illustration as the Far 3kpc
Arm, located at a distance of 3 kpc
(kiloparsecs)
or about 10,000
light-years from
the galactic center, on the opposite side from the Sun.
Along with the Near 3kpc Arm
whose presence was known since the mid 1950s, the counterpart inner
arms now establish that the galaxy has a simple symmetry.
The arms are defined by shocked
interstellar gas
flowing along both sides of the Milky Way's
central bar.
Dame and his collaborator Patrick Thaddeus recorded the
presence of both inner spiral arms in their radio data
tracking emission
from carbon monoxide
molecules along the galactic plane.
How much star formation goes on in the counterpart arms?
Despite this depiction of stars and star forming regions
along the arms, the
last attempt
to search for star formation in the Near 3kpc Arm was in 1980 and
didn't turn up any.
The discovery of the Far 3kpc Arm has renewed
interest
in this and other
questions about
the center of
the Milky Way.
APOD: 2008 June 30 - In the Center of the Trifid Nebula
Explanation:
Clouds of glowing gas mingle with dust lanes in the
Trifid Nebula, a star forming region toward the constellation of Sagittarius.
In the center, the three prominent
dust lanes that give the
Trifid its name all come together.
Mountains of opaque dust
appear on the right, while other dark filaments of
dust are visible threaded throughout the nebula.
A single massive star
visible near the center causes much of the
Trifid's glow.
The Trifid, also known as
M20,
is only about 300,000 years old, making it among the youngest
emission nebulae known.
The nebula lies about 9,000 light years away and the part
pictured
here spans about 10 light years.
This image was created with the 0.8-meter
IAC80 telescope on the
Canary Islands of
Spain.
APOD: 2008 June 19 - The Star Streams of NGC 5907
Explanation:
Grand tidal streams of stars seem to surround galaxy
NGC 5907.
The arcing structures form tenuous loops extending more than 150,000
light-years from the narrow, edge-on spiral, also known as the
Splinter
or Knife Edge Galaxy.
Recorded only in very deep exposures, the streams likely represent
the
ghostly trail of a dwarf galaxy -- debris left along the
orbit of a
smaller satellite galaxy that was gradually
torn
apart and
merged
with NGC 5907 over four billion years ago.
Ultimately this remarkable discovery image, from a small robotic
observatory in New Mexico, supports the cosmological
scenario in
which large spiral galaxies,
including
our own Milky Way, were
formed by the accretion of smaller ones.
NGC 5907 lies about 40 million light-years distant in the northern
constellation
Draco.
APOD: 2008 June 5 - Spitzer's Milky Way
Explanation:
The Spitzer Space Telescope's
encompasing infrared view of
the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy is hard to
appreciate in just
one picture.
In fact, more than 800,000 frames of data from Spitzer's
cameras have now been pieced together in an
enormous mosaic
of the galactic plane - the
most detailed infrared picture
of our galaxy ever made.
The small portion seen here spans nearly 8 degrees, roughly the
apparent
width of your fist held at arms length, across
the galaxy's center.
The full mosaic is 120 degrees wide.
Highlighted
in the false-color presentation are curving green
filaments of light from complex molecules - polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons
(PAHs) - that on Earth are the common, sooty
products of incomplete combustion.
The PAHs are found in
star
forming regions, along with reddish emission
from graphite
dust
particles.
Blue specks throughout the picture are individual Milky Way stars.
APOD: 2008 April 28 - Star Forming Region NGC 3582
Explanation:
What's happening in the NGC 3582 nebula?
Bright stars and interesting molecules are forming.
The
complex
nebula resides in the star forming region called RCW 57.
Visible in this image are dense knots of
dark interstellar dust,
bright stars that have formed in the past few million years,
fields of glowing hydrogen gas
ionized by these stars, and
great loops of gas expelled by dying stars.
A recent detailed study
of NGC 3582 uncovered at least 33 massive stars in the end stages of formation,
and the clear presence of the complex carbon molecules known as
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
PAHs are thought to be created in the cooling gas of star forming regions, and their development in the Sun's formation nebula five billion years ago may have been an important step in the
development of life on Earth.
This
picture was taken last year with the
Blanco 4-meter telescope at the
Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory
(CTIO), in Chile.
APOD: 2008 April 18 - IC 2948: The Running Chicken Nebula
Explanation:
Bright nebulae abound in and around
the expansive southern
constellation of
Centaurus.
This one, cataloged as
IC 2948
is near the star Lambda Centauri
and not far
on the sky
from the better known Eta
Carinae Nebula.
Embedded in the reddish glowing
cloud of hydrogen gas, typical of emission
nebulae found in massive star-forming regions, is the energetic
young star cluster IC 2944.
Seen in silhouette near the top of the view are small, dark clouds
of obscuring cosmic dust.
Called Thackeray's
Globules for their discoverer, they are potential
sites for the formation of new stars, but are likely
being eroded by the intense radiation from the nearby young stars.
Of course,
gazing
at the center of the region suggests to some
IC 2948's popular name - The Running Chicken Nebula.
The gorgeous skyscape spans about 70 light-years
at the nebula's estimated 6,000 light-year distance.
APOD: 2008 March 26 - The NGC 3576 Nebula
Explanation:
An intriguing and beautiful nebula,
NGC 3576
drifts through the Sagittarius arm of our spiral
Milky Way Galaxy.
Within the region,
episodes
of star formation are thought to contribute
to the complex and suggestive shapes.
Powerful winds from the nebula's embedded,
young,
massive stars shape the looping filaments.
The dramatic
false-color
image also highlights the
contributions of hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen, energized by
intense ultraviolet radiation, to the nebular glow.
But the glow also
silhouettes dense clouds of dust
and gas.
For
example, the two condensing dark clouds near the
top of the picture offer potential sites for the formation
of new stars.
NGC 3576 itself is about 100 light-years across and
9,000 light-years away in the southern
constellation of Carina, not far on the sky from the famous
Eta Carinae Nebula.
Near the left edge of the picture is NGC 3603, a much larger
but more distant
star
forming region.
APOD: 2008 March 13 - Sculpting the South Pillar
Explanation:
Eta Carinae, one of the most massive and unstable stars in
the Milky Way Galaxy, has a profound effect on its
environment.
Found in the
South Pillar region
of the Carina Nebula, these
fantastic pillars
of glowing dust and gas with embedded
newborn stars were sculpted by the intense wind and radiation
from Eta Carinae and other massive stars.
Glowing
brightly in planet Earth's southern sky, the expansive
Eta Carinae Nebula is a mere
10,000 light-years distant.
Still, this remarkable cosmic vista is largely obscured
by nebular dust and only revealed here in penetrating
infrared light
by the Spitzer Space Telescope.
Eta Carinae itself is off the top left of the false-color image,
with the bright-tipped
dust pillars
pointing suggestively toward the
massive star's position.
The Spitzer image spans almost 200 light-years at the distance
of Eta Carinae.
APOD: 2008 January 9 - Hidden Galaxy IC 342 from Kitt Peak
Explanation:
Beautiful nearby spiral galaxy IC 342 could be more famous
if it wasn't so hidden.
A sprawling island universe, IC 342
would be a prominent galaxy in our night sky,
but it is almost hidden from view behind the veil of stars,
gas and dust clouds
in the plane of our Milky Way galaxy.
Similar
in size to other large, bright spiral galaxies
IC 342
is a mere 7 million
light-years distant in the long-necked, northern constellation of the Giraffe
(Camelopardalis).
Even though IC 342's light is dimmed by
intervening cosmic
clouds, this remarkably
sharp
telescopic image traces the galaxy's own
obscuring dust,
blue star clusters, and glowing pink
star forming regions along spiral arms that
wind far from the galaxy's core.
IC 342
may have undergone a recent
burst of
star formation activity and is
close enough to have gravitationally
influenced the evolution of the
local
group of galaxies and the Milky Way.
APOD: 2007 December 15 - Mountains of Creation
Explanation:
This fantastic skyscape
lies at the eastern edge of giant
stellar nursery W5, about 7,000 light-years away in the constellation
Cassiopeia.
An infrared view from the
Spitzer
Space Telescope,
it features interstellar clouds of cold gas and dust
sculpted by winds and radiation from a hot, massive star
outside the picture (just above and to the right).
Still swaddled within the cosmic clouds,
newborn stars
are revealed
by Spitzer's penetrating gaze, their
formation also
triggered
by the massive star.
Fittingly dubbed "Mountains of Creation", these
interstellar
clouds are about 10 times the size of the analogous
Pillars of Creation in M16, made famous in a
1995 Hubble Space Telescope view.
W5 is also known as IC 1848 and
together with IC 1805 it is part of
a complex
region popularly dubbed the
Heart and
Soul Nebulae.
The Spitzer image spans about 70 light-years at the distance of W5.
APOD: 2007 December 13 - T Tauri and Hind's Variable Nebula
Explanation:
The orange star centered in this remarkable
telescopic skyview
is T Tauri, prototype of the class of
T Tauri
variable stars.
Nearby it is a dusty yellow cosmic cloud
historically known
as Hind's Variable Nebula (NGC 1555/1554).
Over 400 light-years away, at the edge of a molecular cloud,
both star and nebula
are seen to vary significantly in
brightness but not necessarily at the same time, adding to the mystery of
the intriguing region.
T Tauri stars are now generally recognized as young
(less than a few million years old),
sun-like stars still in the
early stages of
formation.
To further
complicate the picture, infrared observations indicate
that T Tauri itself is part of a multiple system and
suggest that the associated
Hind's
Nebula may also contain a very young stellar object.
The dramatic color image spans about 4 light-years at the estimated
distance
of T Tauri.
APOD: 2007 November 22 - Pleiades and Stardust
Explanation:
Hurtling through a cosmic dust cloud a mere 400 light-years away,
the lovely Pleiades
or Seven Sisters star cluster is well-known for its striking blue
reflection nebulae.
This remarkable wide-field (3 degree)
image of the region
shows the famous star cluster at the right, while
highlighting lesser known
dusty reflection nebulae nearby, across an area
that would span over 20 light-years.
In this case, the sister stars and
cosmic dust clouds
are not related, they just happen to be passing through
the same region of space.
But astronomers using infrared detectors
have recently found a
dusty disk that really does belong to one young
Pleiades star -- HD 23514.
Surrounding HD 23514, the disk is estimated to be comparable in
size to the terrestrial planet zone in our own
solar system
and likely represents the
debris from the process
of rocky planet formation.
APOD: 2007 November 1 - Peculiar Arp 87
Explanation:
A cosmic bridge of stars, gas, and dust stretches
for over 75,000 light-years and joins this
peculiar
pair of galaxies
cataloged as Arp 87.
The bridge is strong evidence
that these two immense star systems have
passed close to each other
and experienced violent tides induced by
mutual
gravity.
As further evidence, the face-on spiral galaxy on
the right, also known as NGC 3808A,
exhibits many young blue star clusters produced in a burst
of star formation.
The twisted edge-on spiral on the left (NGC 3808B) seems to be wrapped
in the material bridging the galaxies and
surrounded by a curious
polar ring.
While such interactions are drawn out over billions of years, repeated
close
passages should ultimately result in
the merger of this pair of galaxies into a larger single
galaxy of stars.
Although
this
scenario does look peculiar, galactic mergers are thought
to be common, with Arp 87 representing a stage in
this
inevitable process.
The Arp 87 pair are
about 300 million light-years
distant toward the constellation Leo.
The prominent edge-on spiral at the far left
appears to be a more distant background galaxy and
not involved in the on-going merger.
APOD: 2007 October 19 - IC 5067 in the Pelican Nebula
Explanation:
The prominent ridge of emission featured in
this dramatic skyscape
is cataloged as IC 5067.
Part of a larger
emission
nebula with a distinctive shape, popularly called
The Pelican Nebula, the ridge spans about
10 light-years following the
curve of the cosmic pelican's head and neck.
This false color
view also translates the pervasive glow of narrow
emission lines from atoms in the nebula to a
color palette made popular in
Hubble Space Telescope images of star forming regions.
Fantastic, dark shapes inhabiting the 1/2 degree wide field
are clouds of cool gas and dust sculpted by the winds and radiation
from hot, massive stars.
Close-ups
of some of the sculpted clouds show clear
signs
of newly forming stars.
The Pelican Nebula, itself cataloged as IC 5070, is about
2,000 light-years away.
To find it, look northeast of bright
star Deneb in the
high flying constellation Cygnus.
APOD: 2007 October 18 - The Elephant's Trunk in IC 1396
Explanation:
Like an illustration in a galactic
Just So Story, the
Elephant's Trunk Nebula
winds through the emission nebula and young star cluster
complex IC 1396, in the high and far off
constellation
of
Cepheus.
Of course, this cosmic elephant's trunk is over 20 light-years long.
The false-color
view was recorded through narrow band filters
that transmit the light from hydrogen (in green), sulfur (in red),
and oxygen (in blue)
atoms in the region.
The resulting composite highlights the bright swept-back ridges that
outline pockets of cool
interstellar
dust and gas.
Such embedded, dark,
tendril-shaped clouds contain the
raw material for
star formation and hide
protostars within the obscuring cosmic dust.
Nearly 3,000
light-years distant, the relatively faint
IC
1396 complex covers a large region
on the sky, spanning about 5 degrees.
This dramatic close-up covers a 1/2 degree wide field,
about the size of the Full Moon.
APOD: 2007 October 17 - I Zwicky 18: The Case of the Aging Galaxy
Explanation:
How old is this galaxy?
The galaxy on the left,
I Zwicky 18,
was once thought to be one of the youngest galaxies on record
since its bright stars indicated an age of only 500 million years.
The galaxy was also intriguing because it resembled
galaxies forming in the very early universe,
but mysterious since it is so nearby -- only 59 million
light
years away -- and surrounded by galaxies that are significantly older.
Recent
images of I Zwicky 18 by the
Hubble Space Telescope
have helped resolve this mystery, discovering a population of
old faint stars intermixed with the
bright star population.
Therefore
I Zwicky 18
is now thought to be just as old as its neighbors,
roughly 10 billion years old,
but with an intense episode of relative
new star formation.
Possibly the trigger for this recent episode of bright star formation
is the changing gravitational influence of
I Zwicky
18's smaller companion galaxy, visible at the upper right.
APOD: 2007 October 5 - Starburst Cluster in NGC 3603
Explanation:
A mere 20,000 light-years from the Sun lies
NGC 3603,
a resident of the nearby Carina spiral arm of our
Milky Way
Galaxy.
NGC 3603 is well known to astronomers as
one of the Milky Way's largest star-forming regions.
The central open star cluster contains thousands of stars
more massive than our Sun, stars that likely formed only
one or two million years ago in a single burst of star formation.
In fact,
nearby NGC 3603 is thought to contain a convenient
example of the massive star clusters that
populate much more distant
starburst
galaxies.
Surrounding
the cluster
are natal clouds of glowing
interstellar gas and obscuring dust, sculpted by energetic
stellar radiation and winds.
Recorded by
the Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys, the image
spans about 17 light-years.
APOD: 2007 September 24 - A Galactic Star Forming Region in Infrared
Explanation:
How do stars form?
To help study this complex issue, astronomers took a
deep image in infrared light of an active part of our
Milky Way Galaxy
where star formation is rampant.
In IRDC G11.11-0.11, thick clouds of
dust and gas are congealing into stars
that are so dark that humans living there would see an empty night sky.
The image, though, taken last year by the
Spitzer
Space Telescope in infrared light,
shows vast glowing fields of gas and dust,
indicating that much of this dust is heated by forming stars.
The centers of some clouds, such as the
snake-like structure
on the upper left, are so thick and cold that they are dark even in
infrared light.
Many of the red dots are glowing
dust shrouds
centered on very young newly formed stars.
The unusual red sphere below the snake is actually a
supernova remnant,
the glowing shell of a young star so massive it evolved rapidly and exploded.
The region spans about 150 light years and
lies about 10,000
light years
away toward the
constellation of Sagittarius.
APOD: 2007 September 21 - Coronet in the Southern Crown
Explanation:
X-rays from
young stars and
infrared light
from stars and cosmic dust are combined in this false color image
of a star-forming region in Corona Australis,
the Southern Crown.
The small star grouping is
fittingly known as the
Coronet Cluster.
A mere 420 light-years distant, the
Coronet
Cluster offers
a relatively close-up view of stars and protostars
evolving with a wide range of masses.
The observations suggest that energetic
x-rays come from the
hot, extended stellar atmospheres or
coronae of the
Coronet stars.
The tantalizing multi-wavelength view spans about 2 light-years
and was produced using data from the orbiting
Chandra
Observatory (x-ray) and the
Spitzer
Space Telescope (infrared).
APOD: 2007 August 11 - Cosmic Tornado HH 49 50
Explanation:
Light-years in length, this cosmic tornado is actually
a powerful jet cataloged as HH (Herbig-Haro) 49/50 blasting
down from the top of a
Spitzer Space Telescope view.
Though such
energetic outflows are
well
known to be associated with the formation of
young
stars, the exact cause of the spiraling structures apparent in
this case is still mysterious.
The embryonic star
responsible for the 100-kilometer per second
jet is located just off the top of the picture, while the bright
star seen near the tip of the jet may just by chance lie
along the line of sight.
In the false-color infrared
image, the tornado glows
with infrared light generated as the outflow heats surrounding
dust clouds.
The color coding shows a trend from red to blue hues at the tornado's
tip indicating a systematic increase in emission at shorter wavelengths.
The trend is thought to indicate an increase in molecular excitation
closer to where the head of the jet is impacting
interstellar gas.
HH49/50 is about 450 light-years distant, located in the
Chamaeleon I molecular cloud.
APOD: 2007 August 10 - Star Factory Messier 17
Explanation:
Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation,
the star factory known as
Messier 17
lies some 5,500 light-years away in the nebula-rich constellation
Sagittarius.
At that distance, this 30 arcminute field of view spans
almost 50 light-years.
Stellar winds and energetic light
from hot, massive stars formed from M17's stock of cosmic gas
and dust have slowly carved away at the remaining interstellar material
producing the cavernous appearance and
undulating shapes.
Colors in the gorgeous image were
picked to emphasize
light emitted by specific elements in the nebula
excited by the energetic starlight.
Red indicates emission from sulfur,
green from hydrogen, and
blue from oxygen.
M17 is also
known as the Omega Nebula or the Swan Nebula.
APOD: 2007 July 26 - Hot Stars in the Rosette Nebula
Explanation:
Winds and radiation from massive hot stars in
the Rosette Nebula
have cleared the natal
gas and dust from the center of the
nearby star-forming region.
They also pose a danger to
planet forming disks around
young, cooler stars in the neighborhood.
This Spitzer Space Telescope
infrared image of dust clouds
near the Rosette's central region,
shows the cleared-out cavity.
The view spans about 45 light-years at the
the nebula's estimated distance of 5,200 light-years.
Putting your cursor over the false color picture will highlight the
dangerous hot stars,
classified as O stars
with surface temperatures of 25,000
kelvins or higher.
Astronomers calculate
that cool stars wandering
within about 1.6 light-years of the Rosette's O stars are in danger
of having their planet forming
disks destroyed.
APOD: 2007 July 14 - RCW 79: Stars in a Bubble
Explanation:
A cosmic bubble of gas and dust,
RCW 79 has grown to about 70 light-years
in diameter, blown by the winds and radiation from hot
young stars.
Infrared
light from the dust embedded in the
nebula is tinted red in this gorgeous false-color view from the
Spitzer
Space Telescope.
A good 17 thousand light-years away in the
grand southern
constellation Centaurus,
the expanding nebula itself has triggered star formation
as it plows into the gas and dust surrounding it.
In fact, this penetrating
infrared picture reveals groups of new
stars as yellowish points scattered along the bubble's edge.
One remarkable group still lies within its own natal bubble
at about 7 o'clock (lower left), while
another can be seen near the upper gap at about 3 o'clock
(right) from the bubble's center.
APOD: 2007 July 10 - NGC 4449: Close-Up of a Small Galaxy
Explanation:
Grand spiral galaxies
often seem to get all the glory.
Their newly formed, bright, blue
star clusters along beautiful, symmetric
spiral arms
are guaranteed to attract attention.
But small irregular galaxies form stars too, like
NGC
4449, located about 12 million light-years away.
In fact, this sharp
Hubble Space Telescope close-up of the
well-studied
galaxy clearly demonstrates that reddish star forming regions and
young blue star clusters
are widespread.
Less than 20,000 light-years across, the small island universe is
similar in size, and often
compared
to our Milky Way's satellite
galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud.
NGC 4449 is a member of a
group
of galaxies found in the constellation Canes Venatici.
APOD: 2007 July 6 - Bright Galaxy NGC 2903
Explanation:
Spiral galaxy NGC 2903 is only some 20 million light-years distant
in the constellation Leo.
One of the brighter galaxies visible from the
northern hemisphere, it is surprisingly
missing from
Charles Messier's famous catalog of celestial
sights.
This impressively
sharp color image shows off the
galaxy's beautiful blue spiral arms.
Included in the ground-based telescopic view are intriguing
details of NGC 2903's central
regions -- a remarkable mix
of old and young star clusters with immense dust and gas clouds.
In fact,
NGC 2903 exhibits an exceptional rate of star formation
activity near its center, also bright in radio,
infrared, ultraviolet, and x-ray
bands.
Just a little smaller than our own Milky Way,
NGC 2903 is about 80,000 light-years across.
APOD: 2007 May 3 - Small Galaxy NGC 4449
Explanation:
Grand spiral galaxies
often seem to get all the glory.
Their newly formed, bright, blue
star clusters along beautiful, symmetric spiral arms
are guaranteed to attract attention.
But small irregular galaxies form stars too, like
NGC 4449,
located about 12 million light-years away.
The well-studied
galaxy is similar in size, and often compared to our
Milky Way's satellite galaxy, the
Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC).
This lovely
color image shows NGC 4449's general bar shape,
also characteristic of the LMC, with
scattered young blue star clusters.
Near the bottom is the pinkish glow of
atomic hydrogen gas, the telltale
tracer of massive star forming regions.
NGC 4449 is a member of a
group
of galaxies found in the constellation Canes Venatici.
In fact, interactions with nearby
galaxies
are thought to have influenced star formation in NGC 4449.
APOD: 2007 February 24- X-rays and the Eagle Nebula
Explanation:
The premier Chandra X-ray Observatory
images of M16,
the Eagle Nebula, show many bright x-ray sources
in the region.
Most of the
x-ray
sources are energetic young stars.
They are seen here as colored spots superimposed on the Hubble's
well-known optical view of M16's light-year long
Pillars of Creation.
For example, a blue source
near
the tip of the large pillar at
the upper left is estimated to be an embedded young star
4 or 5 times as massive
as the Sun.
Still, most of the x-ray sources are not coincident
with the pillars themselves, indicating that embedded stars are
not common in the dusty structures.
The mostly empty pillars are thought to be an
indication that
star formation actually peaked millions of years ago
within
the Eagle
Nebula.
APOD: 2007 January 26 - The Star Clusters of NGC 1313
Explanation:
Like
grains of sand on a cosmic beach,
individual stars of barred
spiral galaxy NGC 1313
are resolved in
this
sharp composite from the Hubble Space Telescope's
Advanced Camera for Surveys
(ACS).
The inner region of the galaxy
is pictured, spanning about 10,000 light-years.
Hubble's unique ability to distinguish individual stars in the
14 million light-year distant galaxy
has been used to
unravel
the fate of star clusters whose bright young
stars are spread through the disk of the galaxy as the
clusters dissolve.
The exploration of stars and clusters in external galaxy NGC 1313
offers clues to star formation and star
cluster evolution
in our own Milky Way.
APOD: 2007 January 10 - NGC 602 and Beyond
Explanation:
Near the outskirts of the
Small Magellanic
Cloud, a satellite galaxy some 200 thousand light-years distant,
lies 5 million year
young
star cluster NGC 602.
Surrounded by natal gas and dust, NGC 602 is featured in this
stunning Hubble image of the region.
Fantastic ridges and swept
back shapes strongly suggest that
energetic radiation and shock waves from NGC 602's massive
young stars have eroded the dusty material and triggered a
progression
of star formation moving away from the cluster's center.
At the estimated distance of the Small Magellanic Cloud, the
picture spans about 200 light-years, but
a tantalizing assortment of
background galaxies are also visible in the
sharp Hubble view.
The background galaxies are hundreds of millions of
light-years or more beyond NGC 602.
APOD: 2006 November 30 - A Pelican in the Swan
Explanation:
The Pelican Nebula lies about 2,000 light-years
away in the high flying constellation
Cygnus, the Swan.
Also known as IC 5070,
this cosmic pelican is appropriately found
just off the "east coast" of
the North America Nebula
(NGC 7000), another surprisingly familiar looking
emission nebula in Cygnus.
The Pelican
and North America nebulae are part of the
same large and
complex star forming region, almost as nearby as the
better-known Orion Nebula.
From our vantage point,
dark dust clouds (upper left) help define
the Pelican's eye and long bill, while a
bright front of ionized gas
suggests the curved shape of the head and neck.
Based on digitized black and white images from the
Samuel
Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory,
this striking
synthesized color view includes two bright foreground
stars and spans about 30 light-years at the estimated distance
of the Pelican Nebula.
APOD: 2006 October 22 - Star EGGs in the Eagle Nebula
Explanation:
Where do stars form?
One place, star forming regions known as "EGGs", are
uncovered at the end of this giant
pillar of gas and
dust in the
Eagle Nebula (M16).
EGGs, short for
evaporating gaseous globules,
are dense regions of mostly molecular
hydrogen
gas that fragment and gravitationally collapse to form
stars.
Light from the hottest and brightest of these
new stars heats the end of
the pillar and causes further evaporation of gas -
revealing yet more EGGs and more young stars.
This picture was taken by the
Wide Field and Planetary Camera on board the
Hubble Space Telescope.
APOD: 2006 October 5 - Hidden Galaxy IC 342
Explanation:
Similar
in size to other large, bright spiral galaxies
IC 342
is a mere 7 million light-years distant in
the long-necked, northern constellation
Camelopardalis.
A sprawling island universe, IC 342
would otherwise be a
prominent galaxy in our night sky,
but it is almost hidden from view behind the veil of stars,
gas and dust clouds
in the plane of our Milky Way galaxy.
Even though IC 342's light is dimmed by
intervening cosmic
clouds, this remarkably
sharp
telescopic image
traces the galaxy's own obscuring dust, blue star clusters, and glowing
pink star forming regions along spiral arms that
wind far from the galaxy's core.
IC 342
may have undergone a recent
burst of
star formation activity and is
close enough to have gravitationally
influenced the evolution of the
local
group of galaxies and the Milky Way.
APOD: 2006 August 18 - Spitzer's Orion
Explanation:
Few cosmic vistas excite the imagination like
the Orion Nebula,
an immense stellar nursery some 1,500 light-years away.
Also known as M42, the nebula is
visible to the unaided eye,
but this
stunning infrared view from the
Spitzer Space
Telescope
penetrates the turbulent cosmic gas and
dust clouds to
explore
the region in unprecedented detail.
At full resolution, the remarkable image data yields
a census of new stars and potential solar systems.
About 2,300 young stars surrounded by
planet-forming disks
were detected based on the
infrared glow of their warm dust,
along with about 200 stellar
embryos,
stars too young to have developed disks.
This 0.8 by 1.4 degree false-color image is
about 20 light-years wide at the distance of the
Orion
Nebula.
APOD: 2006 August 15 - IC 410 and NGC 1893
Explanation:
A faint, dusty rose of the northern sky, emission nebula
IC 410 lies about 12,000 light-years away in the constellation
Auriga.
The cloud of glowing hydrogen
gas is over 100 light-years across,
sculpted by
stellar
winds and radiation from embedded open star cluster NGC 1893.
Formed
in the interstellar cloud
a mere
4 million years ago, bright cluster stars are seen just below the
prominent dark dust
cloud near picture center.
Notable near the 7 o'clock position in this wide, detailed view
are two relatively dense streamers of material trailing
away from the nebula's central regions.
Potentially sites of ongoing star formation, these
cosmic tadpole
shapes are about 10 light-years long.
APOD: 2006 April 21 - NGC 253: Dusty Island Universe
Explanation:
Shiny
NGC 253, sometimes called the Silver Dollar
Galaxy, is one of the brightest spiral galaxies visible -
and also one of the dustiest.
First swept up in 1783 by mathematician
and astronomer Caroline Herschel,
the dusty island universe lies a mere 10 million light-years
away in the southern constellation Sculptor.
About 70 thousand light-years across, NGC 253 is the largest
member of the Sculptor Group of Galaxies, the nearest to our
own Local Group of Galaxies.
In addition to its spiral dust lanes, striking tendrils of
dust seem to be rising
from the galactic disk in
this
gorgeous view.
The high dust content accompanies frantic
star formation,
giving
NGC 253 the designation of a starburst galaxy.
NGC 253 is also known
to be a strong source of high-energy
x-rays and gamma rays, likely due to massive black holes near
the galaxy's center.
APOD: 2006 April 14 - Smoke from the Cigar Galaxy
Explanation:
Very bright in
infrared light,
well-known starburst galaxy M82's
popular name describes its suggestive shape
seen at visible
wavelengths -
The Cigar Galaxy.
Ironically, M82's fantastic appearance in this
Spitzer Space Telescope image
really is due to cosmic "smoke" -
the infrared emission of exented dust features blown by
stellar winds from M82's luminous, central star forming regions.
The false-color view highlights a component of dust emission from
complex carbon molecules called
polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons or PAHs.
PAHs are also seen in star forming regions throughout our
own, much calmer, Milky Way Galaxy and are products of
combustion on planet Earth.
Likely triggered by interactions with nearby
galaxy M81, M82's intense
star formation activity appears to be blowing out immense clouds of
dust and PAHs extending nearly 20,000 light-years both above and
below the galactic plane.
M82 is
about 12 million light-years away in the constellation
Ursa Major.
APOD: 2006 February 3 - Cosmic Tornado HH 49 50
Explanation:
Light-years in length, this cosmic tornado is actually
a powerful jet cataloged as HH (Herbig-Haro) 49/50 blasting
down from the top of a
Spitzer Space Telescope view.
Though such
energetic outflows are
well
known to be associated with the formation of
young
stars, the exact cause of the spiraling structures apparent in
this case is still mysterious.
The embryonic star
responsible for the 100-kilometer per second
jet is located just off the top of the picture, while the bright
star seen near the tip of the jet may just by chance lie
along the line of sight.
In the false-color infrared
image, the tornado glows
with infrared light generated as the outflow heats surrounding
dust clouds.
The color coding shows a trend from red to blue hues at the tornado's
tip indicating a systematic increase in emission at shorter wavelengths.
The trend is thought to indicate an increase in molecular excitation
closer to where the head of the jet is impacting
interstellar gas.
HH49/50 is about 450 light-years distant, located in the
Chamaeleon I molecular cloud.
APOD: 2006 January 30 - NGC 1999: South of Orion
Explanation:
South
of the large star-forming region known as the
Orion Nebula, lies bright blue reflection nebula
NGC 1999.
The nebula is marked with a dark inverted T-shape at the
lower left in a
broad
cosmic vista that spans over 10 light-years.
The dark shape is a dense gas and dust cloud, or
Bok globule,
seen in silhouette against the bright nebula, and likely
a site of future star formation.
At the edge of the
Orion molecular
cloud complex some 1,500 light-years distant, NGC 1999's
illumination is provided by the
embedded variable star V380 Orionis.
The
region abounds with energetic young stars
producing jets and outflows that create luminous shock waves,
including HH (Herbig-Haro) 1 and 2 just below and left of NGC 1999, and
the apparent cascade
of reddish arcs and bow shocks beginning at the upper right.
The stellar jets and
outflows push through the surrounding
material at speeds of hundreds of kilometers per second.
APOD: 2006 January 20 - LL Ori and the Orion Nebula
Explanation:
This esthetic close-up
of cosmic clouds and stellar winds
features LL Orionis, interacting with the
Orion Nebula flow.
Adrift in Orion's
stellar nursery
and still in its formative years,
variable star LL Orionis produces a wind more
energetic than
the wind from our own
middle-aged Sun.
As the fast stellar wind runs into slow moving gas a shock front is
formed, analogous to the
bow
wave of a boat moving through water or
a plane traveling at supersonic speed.
The small, arcing, graceful structure just above and left of
center is LL Ori's cosmic
bow shock, measuring about half a light-year across.
The slower gas is flowing away from the Orion Nebula's hot central star
cluster, the Trapezium, located off the upper left corner
of the picture.
In three
dimensions, LL Ori's wrap-around shock front is shaped like a
bowl that appears brightest when viewed along the "bottom" edge.
The beautiful picture is part of a
large mosaic view of
the complex
stellar nursery in Orion, filled with a myriad of
fluid
shapes associated with
star formation.
APOD: 2006 January 18 - Cartwheel Of Fortune
Explanation:
By chance, a collision of two galaxies has created a surprisingly
recognizable shape on a cosmic scale -
The Cartwheel Galaxy.
The Cartwheel is part of a group of galaxies about 400 million
light years away in the
constellation
Sculptor
(two smaller galaxies in the group are visible below and left).
Its rim is an immense ring-like structure over 100,000 light
years in diameter, composed of star forming regions filled with
extremely bright, massive stars.
When galaxies collide they
pass through
each other, their individual stars do not come into contact.
However, this ring-like shape is the result of
gravitational
disruption caused by a smaller galaxy
passing through a large one, compressing the interstellar gas and
dust and causing a star formation wave to move out
like a ripple across the surface of a pond.
This
false-color composite image of the
Cartwheel Galaxy is from space-based observatories.
The Chandra X-ray Observatory
data is in purple,
the Galaxy
Evolution Explorer ultraviolet view is in blue,
the Hubble Space Telescope
visible light picture is in green and
the Spitzer Space Telescope
infrared image is in red.
APOD: 2006 January 6 - The Tarantula Nebula
Explanation:
First
cataloged as a star, 30 Doradus is actually an
immense star forming region in nearby galaxy
The Large Magellanic Cloud.
The region's spidery appearance is responsible for its popular name,
the Tarantula
Nebula, except that this tarantula is about
1,000 light-years across, and 180,000 light-years away in
the southern constellation
Dorado.
If the Tarantual Nebula were at the distance of the
Orion Nebula
(1,500 light-years), the nearest stellar nursery to Earth, it
would appear to cover about 30 degrees
on the sky or 60 full moons.
The spindly arms of the
Tarantula Nebula surround
NGC 2070, a cluster
that contains some of the intrinsically brightest,
most massive stars known.
Intriguing details of the nebula's core can be seen in
this
remarkable skyscape, a composite
of 31 hours of exposure time.
This cosmic Tarantula
also lies near the site of the closest
recent supernova.
APOD: 2005 December 23 - Hydrogen and Dust in the Rosette Nebula
Explanation:
At the edge of a large
molecular cloud in Monoceros,
some 3,000 light years away,
dark filaments of dust are silhouetted by luminous
hydrogen gas.
The close up view of the
Rosette
Nebula dramatically
suggests that star formation is an
on going process in the region, with dark filaments
sculpted
by winds and radiation from hot, young stars.
Ultraviolet radiation from the young stars also
strips electrons
from the surrounding hydrogen atoms.
As electrons and atoms recombine they emit longer wavelength,
lower energy light in a well known
characteristic pattern of bright
spectral lines.
At visible wavelengths, the strongest emission line in this pattern is in
the red part of the spectrum and is known as "Hydrogen-alpha" or just
H-alpha.
Part of IPHAS, a survey of H-alpha emission in our Milky Way
Galaxy, this image spans about 25 light-years.
APOD: 2005 November 17 - Young Stars of NGC 346
Explanation:
Star cluster NGC 346 is embedded in
the largest star forming region in the
Small Magellanic Cloud,
some 210,000 light-years distant.
The massive stars of NGC 346
are short lived, but very
energetic.
Their winds and radiation sweep out an interstellar
cavern in the gas and dust cloud about 200 light-years across,
triggering star formation and sculpting
the region's dense inner edge.
Cataloged as N66, the star forming region also appears to
contain a large population of infant stars.
A mere 3 to 5 million years old and
not yet burning hydrogen in their cores,
the infant stars
are strewn about the embedded star cluster.
In the false-color
Hubble Space Telescope image,
visible and near-infrared light are seen as blue and green,
while light from atomic
hydrogen emission is red.
APOD: 2005 November 11 - Mountains of Creation
Explanation:
This fantastic skyscape
lies at the eastern edge of giant
stellar nursery W5, about 7,000 light-years away in the constellation
Cassiopeia.
An infrared view from the
Spitzer
Space Telescope,
it features interstellar clouds of cold gas and dust
sculpted by winds and radiation from a hot, massive star
outside the picture (just above and to the right).
Still swaddled within the cosmic clouds,
newborn stars
are revealed
by Spitzer's penetrating gaze, their
formation also
triggered
by the massive star.
Fittingly dubbed "Mountains of Creation", these
interstellar
clouds are about 10 times the size of the analogous
Pillars of Creation in M16, made famous in a
1995 Hubble Space Telescope view.
W5 is also known as IC 1848 and
together with IC 1805 it is part of
a complex
region popularly dubbed the
Heart and
Soul Nebulae.
The Spitzer image spans about 70 light-years at the distance of
W5.
APOD: 2005 October 17 - Short Gamma Ray Bursts Localized
Explanation:
What causes gamma-ray bursts?
The most energetic type of explosions known in the cosmos has been an enigma since
discovered over 30 years ago.
It now appears that there may not be one unique type of progenitor.
Long duration
gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been
localized, over the past few years, to
blue regions in the universe rich in star formation.
Massive young stars nearing the end of their short lives commonly explode in these regions.
Astronomers associate these
long duration GRBs, that can last from seconds to minutes,
with a type of stellar explosion common in young massive stars.
Over the past few months, short duration GRBs have finally been
localized and found to occur in different types of regions -- not only
blue regions rich in star formation.
Many astronomers therefore now theorize that
short GRBs, which typically last less than one second, are the result of a
different progenitor process
than long GRBs.
A leading model is that a short GRB will occur when a
neutron star
either impacts
another neutron star or a
black hole.
Such collisions may occur well after star-forming regions have otherwise burned out.
Pictured in the above illustration, two energized
neutrons stars finally approach
each other in their orbits, a death spiral that might end with a short GRB.
APOD: 2005 September 30 - IC 1396 H-Alpha Close-Up
Explanation:
Clouds of glowing hydrogen
gas mingle ominously with dark dust lanes in this
close-up of IC 1396, an active star
forming region some
2,000 light years away in the constellation Cepheus.
In this and other similar
emission
nebulae, energetic
ultraviolet light
from a hot young star strips electrons from the surrounding
hydrogen atoms.
As the electrons and atoms recombine they emit longer
wavelength, lower energy light in a well known characteristic pattern
of bright spectral lines.
At visible wavelengths, the strongest
emission line in this pattern is in the red part of the spectrum and is
known as "Hydrogen-alpha" or just
H-alpha.
Part of IPHAS,
a survey of H-alpha emission in our Milky Way Galaxy,
this
image spans about 20 light-years and highlights
bright, dense regions within IC 1396, likely sites where
massive new stars are born.
APOD: 2005 September 27 - The Star Pillars of Sharpless 171
Explanation:
Towering pillars of cold gas and dark dust adorn the
center star forming region of Sharpless 171.
An open cluster
of stars is forming there from the gas in cold
molecular clouds.
As energetic light emitted by young massive stars boils away the opaque
dust, the region fragments and
picturesque pillars
of the remnant gas and dust form and slowly evaporate.
The energetic light also illuminates the surrounding
hydrogen gas,
energize it to glow as a red
emission nebula.
Pictured above is the active central region of the
Sharpless 171 greater emission nebula.
Sharpless 171 incorporates
NGC 7822 and the active region Cederblad 214, much of which is
imaged above.
The area above spans about 20
light years, lies about 3,000 light years away,
and can be seen with a telescope toward the northern
constellation of the King of Ethiopia
(Cepheus).
APOD: 2005 September 24 - Cat s Eye
Explanation:
Staring across interstellar space, the
alluring Cat's Eye
nebula lies three thousand light-years from Earth.
A classic
planetary
nebula, the Cat's Eye (NGC 6543) represents
a final, brief
yet
glorious phase in the life of a sun-like star.
This nebula's dying central star may have produced the simple,
outer pattern of dusty
concentric shells
by shrugging off outer layers
in a series of regular convulsions.
But the formation of the beautiful, more complex
inner structures is not well understood.
Seen so clearly in
this sharp Hubble Space
Telescope image,
the truly cosmic eye is over half a light-year across.
Of course,
gazing into the Cat's Eye,
astronomers may well be seeing
the fate of our sun, destined to enter its own
planetary nebula phase of
evolution ... in about
5 billion years.
APOD: 2005 September 23 - Portrait of RY Tauri
Explanation:
A star emerges from its natal cloud of gas and
dust in this
tantalizing portrait of RY Tauri, a
small stellar nursery
at the edge of the Taurus molecular cloud,
a mere 450 light-years away.
Illuminating a region that spans about 2/3 of a light-year,
the
youthful, central star is
large,
cool, and
known to vary
in brightness.
Still collapsing, in a few million years the
star's winds
will likely clear out the gas and dust clouds,
as it settles down to become a steady main sequence star like
the Sun.
What remains could well include a planetary
system.
The image data for RY Tauri is
from the Gemini Observatory,
on Mauna Kea, Hawaii -- based on observations
proposed by
the Astronomy Club of Dorval, Quebec.
APOD: 2005 September 8 - IC 1396 in Cepheus
Explanation:
Stunning
emission
nebula
IC 1396 mixes
glowing cosmic gas and dark dust clouds in the high and far off constellation
of Cepheus.
Energized by the bright, bluish central star seen here, this
star
forming region sprawls across hundreds of light-years --
spanning over three degrees on the sky while
nearly 3,000 light-years from planet Earth.
Among the intriguing
dark shapes within IC 1396, the winding
Elephant's Trunk
nebula lies just below center.
The gorgeous color view is a composition of
digitized
black and white photographic plates recorded
through red and blue astronomical filters.
The plates were taken using the
Samuel
Oschin Telescope,
a wide-field survey instrument at
Palomar Observatory,
between 1989 and 1993.
APOD: 2005 August 23 - NGC 281: The Pacman Nebula
Explanation:
NGC 281 is a busy workshop of star formation.
Prominent features include a small
open cluster of stars,
a diffuse red-glowing
emission nebula, large lanes of obscuring
gas and
dust, and dense knots
of dust and gas in which stars may still be forming.
The open cluster
of stars IC 1590 visible around the center
has formed only in the last few million years.
The brightest member of this cluster is actually a
multiple-star system
shining light that helps ionize the nebula's gas,
causing the red glow visible throughout.
The lanes of dust
visible left of center are likely homes
of future star formation.
Particularly striking in the
above photograph are the dark
Bok globules
visible against the bright nebula.
The NGC 281 system, dubbed the
Pacman nebula for its
overall shape, lies about 10 thousand light years distant.
APOD: 2005 August 5 - HD 188753: Triple Sunset
Explanation:
Although it looks like fiction, this artist's vision
of sunset on an
alien world
is based on fact --
the
recent discovery
of a hot, jupiter-sized planet orbiting in
triple star
system HD 188753.
Only 149 light-years away in the
constellation Cygnus, HD 188753's
massive planet was detected by astronomer Maciej Konacki
after analyzing detailed spectroscopic data
from the Keck
Observatory.
The large planet itself is depicted at the upper
left in
this
imagined view from the well-illuminated
surface of a hypothetical rocky moon.
From
this
perspective,
the closest, hottest and most massive
star in the triple system, a star only a little hotter
than the Sun, has set below distant peaks.
The two other suns nearing the horizon are both cooler and
farther from the large planet.
While other hot, jupiter-like planets
are known to orbit
nearby stars, the "crowded" multiple star nature of this system
challenges current theories of
planet formation.
APOD: 2005 June 21 - The Cygnus Wall of Star Formation
Explanation:
The North America Nebula in the sky can do what
North Americans on Earth cannot -- form stars.
Specifically, in analogy to the
Earth-confined continent, the bright part that appears as Central America and
Mexico is actually a hot bed of gas, dust, and newly formed stars
known as the
Cygnus Wall.
The above image in representative colors shows the star forming wall
lit and eroded by
bright young stars,
and partly hidden by the dark
dust they have created.
The part of the North America nebula (NGC 7000) shown spans about 15 light years and lies about 1,500 light years away toward the
constellation of
Cygnus.
APOD: 2005 June 2 - Sculpting the South Pillar
Explanation:
Eta Carinae,
one of the most massive and unstable stars in
the Milky Way Galaxy, has a profound effect on its
environment.
Found in the
the South Pillar region
of the Carina Nebula,
these fantastic pillars
of glowing dust and gas with embedded
newborn stars were sculpted by the intense wind and radiation
from Eta Carinae and other massive stars.
Glowing brightly in planet Earth's southern sky, the expansive
Eta Carinae Nebula
is a mere 10,000 light-years distant.
Still, this remarkable cosmic vista is largely obscured
by nebular dust and only revealed here in penetrating
infrared light
by the Spitzer Space Telescope.
Eta Carinae itself is off the top left of the false-color image,
with the bright-tipped
dust pillars
pointing suggestively toward the
massive star's position.
The Spitzer image spans almost 200 light-years at the distance
of Eta Carinae.
APOD: 2005 May 21 - Snake in the Dark
Explanation:
Dark nebulae snake
across a gorgeous expanse of stars in
this
wide-field view
toward the
pronounceable
constellation Ophiuchus and the center
of our Milky Way Galaxy.
In fact, the central
S-shape seen here is well known as the
Snake Nebula.
It is also listed as Barnard 72 (B72), one of 182
dark markings of the sky
cataloged in the early 20th century
by astronomer E. E. Barnard.
Unlike bright emission nebulae and star clusters,
Barnard's nebulae
are interstellar dark clouds of obscuring
gas and dust.
Their shapes are visible in
cosmic silhouette
only because they lie in the foreground along
the
line of sight to rich star fields
and glowing stellar nurseries near the plane of our Galaxy.
Many of Barnard's dark nebulae are themselves likely sites
of future star formation.
Barnard 72
is a few light years across and about 650 light years away.
APOD: 2005 April 15 - RCW 79: Stars in a Bubble
Explanation:
A cosmic bubble of gas and dust,
RCW 79 has grown to about 70 light-years
in diameter, blown by the winds and radiation from hot
young stars.
Infrared
light from the dust embedded in the
nebula is tinted red in this gorgeous false-color view from the
Spitzer
Space Telescope.
A good 17 thousand light-years away in the
grand southern
constellation Centaurus,
the expanding nebula itself has triggered star formation
as it plows into the gas and dust surrounding it.
In fact, this penetrating
infrared picture reveals groups of new
stars as yellowish points scattered along the bubble's edge.
One remarkable group still lies within its own natal bubble
at about 7 o'clock (lower left), while
another can be seen near the upper gap at about 3 o'clock
(right) from the bubble's center.
APOD: 2005 April 2 - Cyg X-1: Can Black Holes Form in the Dark?
Explanation:
The formation of a
black hole from the collapsing
core of a massive star is thought to be heralded by a spectacular
supernova explosion.
Such an extremely energetic collapse is also a
leading explanation
for the mysterious cosmic gamma-ray bursts.
But researchers now suggest that the Milky Way's most
famous black hole,
Cygnus X-1, was born
when a massive star collapsed --
without
any supernova explosion at all.
Their dynamical evidence is summarized in this
color image of a gorgeous
region in Cygnus,
showing Cyg X-1 and a cluster of massive stars
(yellow circles) known as Cygnus OB3.
Arrows compare the measured direction and speed of Cyg X-1
and the average direction and speed of the massive stars
of Cyg OB3.
The similar motions indicate that
Cyg X-1's progenitor star was itself a cluster member
and that its path was not altered at all when it
became a black hole.
In contrast, if Cyg X-1 were born in a violent supernova
it would have likely received a
fierce
kick, changing its course.
If not a supernova, could
the formation of the Cyg X-1 black
hole have produced a
dark gamma-ray burst in
the
Milky Way?
APOD: 2005 March 4 - NGC 1427A: Galaxy in Motion
Explanation:
In this tantalizing
image, young blue star clusters
and pink star-forming regions abound in
NGC 1427A, a galaxy in motion.
The small irregular galaxy's
swept back outline points toward the top of this picture
from the Hubble Space Telescope -
and that is indeed the direction NGC 1427A is moving as
it travels toward the center of the
Fornax
cluster of galaxies, some 62 million light-years away.
Over 20,000 light-years long and similar to the
nearby Large Magellanic Cloud,
NGC
1427A is speeding through the
Fornax cluster's
intergalactic gas at around
600 kilometers per second.
The resulting pressure is giving the galaxy its
arrowhead outline and triggering the beautiful but
violent episodes of star formation.
Still, it is understood that
interactions with cluster gas and the other
cluster galaxies
during its headlong flight will ultimately
disrupt
galaxy NGC 1427A.
Many unrelated background galaxies are visible in
the sharp Hubble image, including a striking
face-on
spiral galaxy at the upper left.
APOD: 2005 March 1 - NGC 1531/2: Interacting Galaxies
Explanation:
This dramatic image of an
interacting pair of galaxies was made using 8-meter
Gemini
South telescope at
Cerro Pachon,
Chile.
NGC 1531 is the background galaxy with a bright core just above center and
NGC 1532 is the foreground
spiral galaxy
laced with dust lanes.
The pair is about 55 million
light-years away in the southern constellation Eridanus.
These galaxies lie close enough together so that each feels
the influence of the other's
gravity.
The gravitational
tug-of-war has triggered
star formation
in the foreground spiral as evidenced by the young,
bright blue star clusters
along the upper edge of the front
spiral arm.
Though the spiral galaxy in
this pair is viewed nearly edge-on, astronomers believe the system is similar to the face-on spiral and companion known as
M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy.
APOD: 2005 January 25 - NGC 6946: The Fireworks Galaxy
Explanation:
Why is this galaxy so active?
Nearby spiral galaxy
NGC 6946 is undergoing a tremendous burst of star formation
with no obvious cause.
In many cases spirals light up when interacting with another galaxy, but
NGC 6946 appears relatively isolated in space.
Located just 10 million
light years away toward the
constellation of Cepheus,
this beautiful face-on spiral spans about
20,000 light years and is seen through a field of foreground stars from our
Milky Way Galaxy.
The center of
NGC 6946 is home to a nuclear starburst itself, and picturesque dark dust is seen lacing the disk along with
bright blue stars,
red emission nebulas,
fast moving gas clouds, and unusually frequent
supernovas.
The 8-meter
Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii,
USA, took the
above image.
A suggested explanation
for the high star formation rate is the recent accretion of
many primordial low-mass neutral hydrogen clouds from the surrounding region.
APOD: 2004 November 1 - Spooky Star Forming Region DR 6
Explanation:
How could stars form such a spooky and familiar shape as a human skull?
First, the complex process of
star formation creates nebulas of many
shapes and sizes -- it is
human perception that identifies the
skull shape.
Next, the physical reasons for the large nearly
empty cavities that resemble the skull's eyes and mouth in nebula
DR 6 are the strong
stellar winds and energetic light emanating from about
ten bright young stars in the nebula's central "nose".
The length of the central nasal bridge is about 3.5
light years.
Star forming nebula DR 6 is located about 4000 light years
away toward the constellation of Cygnus.
The Spitzer Space Telescope took the
above image last year in four
infrared colors.
The perhaps-perceived eeriness of nebula DR 6 commemorates
today being historically spooky
All Hallow's Day, which follows
All Hallow's Eve or "Halloween".
APOD: 2004 October 20 - NGC 281: Cluster, Clouds, and Globules
Explanation:
NGC 281 is a busy workshop of star formation.
Prominent features include a small
open cluster of stars,
a diffuse red-glowing
emission nebula, large lanes of obscuring
gas and
dust, and dense knots
of dust and gas in which stars may still be forming.
The open cluster
of stars IC 1590 visible around the center
has formed only in the last few million years.
The brightest member of this cluster is actually a
multiple-star system
shining light that helps ionize the nebula's gas,
causing the red glow visible throughout.
The lanes of dust
visible left of center are likely homes
of future star formation.
Particularly striking in the
above photograph are the dark
Bok globules
visible against the bright nebula.
The entire
NGC 281 system lies about 10 thousand light years distant.
APOD: 2004 October 16 - The Bubbling Cauldron of NGC 3079
Explanation:
Edge-on
spiral galaxy NGC 3079 is a mere 50 million light-years away
toward the constellation Ursa Major.
Shown in this stunning false-color
Hubble Space Telescope
image, the galaxy's disk - composed of spectacular
star clusters in winding spiral arms and dramatic
dark lanes of dust -
spans
some 70,000 light-years.
Still, NGC 3079's most eye-catching features
are the pillars of gas
which tower above a swirling cosmic cauldron of activity
at the galaxy's center.
Seen in the close-up inset at lower right, the pillars rise to a
height of about 2,000 light-years and seem to lie on the surface
of an immense bubble rising from the galactic core.
Measurements indicate that the gaseous pillars are streaming away
from the core at 6 million kilometers per hour.
What makes this galaxy's
cauldron bubble?
Astronomers
are exploring the
possibility that the superbubble is
formed by winds from massive stars.
If so, these massive stars were likely born all at once as the
galactic center underwent a
sudden burst of star formation.
APOD: 2004 September 10 - Cat's Eye
Explanation:
Staring across interstellar space, the
alluring Cat's Eye
nebula lies three thousand light-years from Earth.
A classic
planetary
nebula, the Cat's Eye (NGC 6543) represents
a final, brief
yet
glorious phase in the life of a sun-like star.
This nebula's dying central star may have produced the simple,
outer pattern of dusty
concentric shells
by shrugging off outer layers
in a series of regular convulsions.
But the formation of the beautiful, more complex
inner structures is not well understood.
Seen so clearly in
this sharp Hubble Space
Telescope image,
the truly cosmic eye is over half a light-year across.
Of course,
gazing into the Cat's Eye,
astronomers may well be seeing
the fate of our sun, destined to enter its own
planetary nebula phase of
evolution ... in about
5 billion years.
APOD: 2004 August 28- M17: A Hubble Close-Up
Explanation:
Sculpted by stellar winds
and radiation, these fantastic, undulating shapes lie within the
stellar
nursery known
as M17,
the Omega Nebula, some 5,500 light-years away in the
nebula-rich constellation Sagittarius.
The lumpy features
in the dense cold gas and dust are illuminated
by stars off the upper left of the image and may themselves
represent sites of future star formation.
Colors in the fog of surrounding hotter material indicate
M17's
chemical make up.
The predominately green glow corresponds to abundant hydrogen,
with trace sulfur and oxygen atoms contributing red and blue hues.
The picture spans about 3 light-years and was released
in the thirteenth year of the
Hubble
Space Telescope's cosmic voyage of exploration.
APOD: 2004 July 7 - N11B: Star Cloud of the LMC
Explanation:
Massive stars, abrasive
winds, mountains of
dust, and
energetic light
sculpt one of the largest and most picturesque regions of
star formation in the
Local Group of Galaxies.
Known as N11, the region is
visible on the upper right of many images of its home galaxy, the
Milky Way neighbor known as the
Large Magellanic Clouds (LMC).
The above image actually highlights
N11B, part of the nebula that spans about 100 light years and is particularly active.
The entire emission nebula N11 is second in LMC size only to
30 Doradus.
Studying the stars in N11B has shown that it actually houses three successive
generations of star formation.
Compact globules of dark dust
housing emerging young stars are also visible on the upper right.
APOD: 2004 June 3 - Cosmic Construction Zone RCW 49
Explanation:
Stars
and planets appear to be under
construction in dusty nebula RCW 49.
This Spitzer Space Telescope false-color
infrared view of
the nearby stellar nursery shows that known, hot stars are
well on their way to clearing out the nebula's central
regions.
But it also uncovers more than 300 newborn stars,
seen here
strewn throughout the cosmic dust clouds
and filaments.
The infrared data indicate the likely presence of
protoplanetary discs
around some of the infant suns, among the faintest
and farthest potential
planet-forming discs ever observed.
Such exciting results give further support to the idea that
planet-forming discs are a natural part of a star's evolution.
A mere 14,000 light-years away toward the constellation
Centaurus, the industrious RCW 49 is about
350 light-years across.
APOD: 2004 June 1 - The Supergalactic Wind from Starburst Galaxy M82
Explanation:
Star formation occurs at a faster pace in
M82 --
a galaxy with about ten times the rate of massive star birth (and death) compared to our
Milky Way.
Winds from massive stars and blasts from
supernova explosions have created a billowing cloud of
expanding gas from this remarkable
starburst galaxy.
The
above scientifically color-coded image highlights the complexity and
origin of the plume by combining a wide field image from the
WIYN Telescope in
Arizona
with a smaller high-resolution image from the orbiting
Hubble Space Telescope.
M82's aspect in optical pictures has led to its popular moniker, the
Cigar Galaxy.
M82's burst of star formation was likely triggered a
mere 100 million years ago in the latest of a
series of bouts with neighboring large galaxy
M81.
APOD: 2004 May 29 - Cone Nebula Close Up
Explanation:
Cones, pillars, and majestic
flowing shapes abound in
stellar
nurseries where natal clouds of gas and dust are buffeted by
energetic winds from newborn stars.
A well-known example, the
Cone
Nebula within the bright
galactic star-forming region NGC 2264, was captured in
this close-up view
from the Hubble Space Telescope's
Advanced Camera for Surveys.
While the Cone Nebula,
about 2,500 light-years away
in Monoceros,
is around 7 light-years long,
the region pictured here
surrounding the cone's blunted head is a mere 2.5 light-years across.
In our neck
of the galaxy that distance
is just
over half way
from the Sun to its nearest stellar neighbor,
Alpha Centauri.
The massive star
NGC
2264 IRS, seen by Hubble's infrared camera
in 1997, is the likely source of the wind
sculpting the Cone Nebula and lies off the top of the image.
The Cone Nebula's reddish veil is
produced by glowing hydrogen gas.
APOD: 2004 May 20 - Sharpless 140
Explanation:
Three young, massive stars will eventually
emerge from
this natal cloud of dust and gas, but their presence is
already revealed in
this false-color image from the
Spitzer
Space Telescope.
The picture offers a penetrating
infrared view of an
emission nebula cataloged as
Sharpless 140
which lies about 3,000 light-years away toward the
constellation Cepheus.
The young stars are otherwise obscured in visible light
images by the dusty environs.
Sculpted by winds and radiation from hot stars in the region,
the majestic arcing structures
pictured here are
tens of light-years across and contain surprisingly complex
molecules - polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs) - that glow in the infrared.
An amazingly detailed record of
cosmic markers of star
formation, the image hints at the wealth of infrared
data now freely available in the Spitzer Space Telescope
archive.
APOD: 2004 May 17 - NGC 3372: The Great Nebula in Carina
Explanation:
In one of the brightest parts of the
Milky Way
lies a nebula where some of the oddest things occur.
NGC 3372, known as the
Great Nebula in Carina,
is home to massive stars and changing nebula.
Eta Carina,
the most energetic star in the nebula was one of the
brightest stars in the sky in the 1830s,
but then faded dramatically.
The Keyhole Nebula, visible near the center,
houses several of the most massive stars
known and has also changed its appearance.
The Carina Nebula spans over 300 light years and
lies about 7000 light-years away in the constellation of Carina.
The above image was taken from La Frontera in Alcohuaz,
Chile.
Eta Carina
might explode in a dramatic
supernova
within the next thousand years, and has even
flared in brightness over just the
past decade.
APOD: 2004 April 14 - Massive Star Forming Region DR21 in Infrared
Explanation:
Deep in the normally hidden recesses of
giant molecular cloud DR21,
a stellar nursery has been found creating some of the
most massive stars yet recorded.
The orbiting Spitzer Space Telescope's
Infrared Array Camera opened the
window into the cloud
last year in mid-
infrared light.
The cloud is opaque to visible light because of dense
interstellar dust.
Noticeable in the
above representative color infrared Spitzer image
are huge
bubbles, a complex
tapestry of dust and gas, and very massive stars.
The infrared filaments actually glow because of
organic compounds known as
PAHs.
The intricate patterns are caused by complex interactions between
interstellar winds,
radiation pressures,
magnetic fields, and
gravity.
The pictured region spans about 75
light years and lies about 6,000 light years distant toward the constellation of Cygnus.
APOD: 2004 March 11 - Henize 206: Cosmic Generations
Explanation:
Peering into a dusty nebula in
nearby
galaxy the
Large Magellanic Cloud, infrared cameras on board the
Spitzer Space Telescope recorded
this detailed view of stellar
nursery Henize 206 filled with newborn stars.
The stars appear as white spots within the swirls of dust and gas
in the false-color infrared
image.
Near the top, the sweeping telltale arcs of a
supernova remnant
are also visible, expanding debris from the final explosion of
a massive star.
The proximity of the ancient supernova indicates that the shockwave from
that stellar death explosion itself likely
triggered the
formation of the new generation of emerging stars, compressing
the gas and dust within Henize 206 and continuing the
cosmic cycle
of star death and star birth.
At the distance of the Large
Magellanic Cloud, about 163,000
light-years, this image covers an area about 1,000 light-years across.
APOD: 2004 February 19 - McNeil's Nebula
Explanation:
It was a clear, cold western
Kentucky night on January 23rd as
seasoned amateur astronomer Jay McNeil tried out his recently acquired 3-inch
refracting telescope by
imaging
the area around a familiar object, the
M78 reflection nebula in Orion.
Days later while processing the images, he noted a substantial
but totally unfamiliar nebulosity in the region!
With a little help from his friends,
his
amazing discovery
is now recognized as a newly visible reflection nebula surrounding a
newborn star -- McNeil's Nebula.
Pictured here at the center of
this
close-up, McNeil's Nebula with
its illuminating young star at the
tip, do not appear in images of the area before September 2003.
The emergence
of McNeil's Nebula is a rare event to witness and
astronomers are eagerly following its development, but Orion
will soon lie too close to the Sun in the sky, interrupting
further observations for several months.
The
Orion nebula complex itself is around 1,500 light-years away.
At that distance, the above image spans less than 10 light-years.
APOD: 2004 February 5 - NGC 1569: Starburst in a Small Galaxy
Explanation:
Grand spiral galaxies
often seem to get all the glory, flaunting
their young, bright, blue star clusters in beautiful,
symmetric spiral arms.
But small, irregular galaxies
form stars too.
In fact, as pictured here, dwarf galaxy
NGC 1569 is apparently
undergoing a burst of star forming activity, thought
to have begun over 25 million years ago.
The resulting turbulent environment is
fed by supernova
explosions as the cosmic detonations spew out material and trigger
further star formation.
Two massive star clusters - youthful counterparts to
globular
star clusters
in our own spiral Milky Way galaxy -
are seen left of center in the gorgeous
Hubble Space Telescope image.
The picture spans about 1,500 light-years across NGC 1569.
A mere 7 million light-years distant,
this relatively close starburst galaxy offers astronomers an
excellent opportunity
to study
stellar populations in rapidly evolving galaxies.
NGC 1569 lies in the
long-necked
constellation
Camelopardalis.
APOD: 2004 February 3 - X-Rays From Antennae Galaxies
Explanation:
A bevy of
black holes and
neutron stars
shine as bright, point-like
sources against bubbles of
million degree gas in this
false-color
x-ray image from the
orbiting Chandra Observatory.
The striking picture spans about 80 thousand light-years across the
central regions of two
galaxies, NGC 4038 and NGC 4039, locked in a titanic collision
some 60 million light-years away in the
constellation Corvus.
In visible light images, long, luminous,
tendril-like structures emanating
from the wreckage lend the pair their
popular moniker, the Antennae Galaxies.
Galactic collisions are now thought to be
fairly common, but when
they happen individual stars rarely collide.
Instead gas and dust clouds merge and compress, triggering furious
bursts of massive star formation with
thousands of resulting supernovae.
The exploding stars litter the scene with bubbles of shocked gas
enriched
in heavy elements, and collapsed stellar cores.
Transfixed by this cosmic accident
astronomers watch and are beginning
to appreciate the
collision-driven evolution
of galaxies, not unlike our own.
APOD: 2004 February 2 - The Tarantula Nebula from Spitzer
Explanation:
In the heart of monstrous
Tarantula Nebula lies one of the most unusual
star clusters.
Known as NGC 2070 or
R136,
it is home to a great number of
hot young stars.
The energetic light from these stars continually
ionizes nebula gas, while their energetic particle
wind blows
bubbles and defines intricate
filaments.
The new
Spitzer Space Telescope took the
above representative-color infrared image of this great
LMC
cluster. The image details the cluster's tumultuous center in gas,
dust and young stars.
The 30 Doradus nebula is one of the
largest star-formation regions known, and has been creating
unusually strong episodes of
star formation every few million years.
In the heart of this heart is a
central knot of stars
that is so dense
it was once thought to be a single star.
APOD: 2003 December 26 - Young Star, Dark Cloud
Explanation:
High-speed outflows of molecular gas from a young stellar object
glow in infrared light, revealing themselves in this recent
false-color
image from the Spitzer Space Telescope.
Cataloged as
HH (Herbig-Haro) 46/47 the
infrared source is
lodged within a dark nebula or Bok globule - near the lower right
corner of the dark nebula in the optical inset -
that is largely opaque
when viewed in visible light.
The energetic outflow
features extend for nearly a light-year,
burrowing into the dark interstellar material, and
are
attributed to early stages in the life of a sun-like star.
They may well represent a phase of our own
Sun's evolution
which took place some 4.5 billion years ago, along with
the formation of our solar system from a
circumstellar disk.
A tantalizing
object to explore with
Spitzer's infrared
capabilities, this
young star
system is relatively nearby,
located only some 1,140 light-years distant in the nautical
constellation
Vela.
APOD: 2003 November 15 - LL Orionis: When Cosmic Winds Collide
Explanation:
This arcing, graceful structure is actually a
bow shock about half a
light-year across, created as the wind from young star LL Orionis
collides with the
Orion Nebula flow.
Adrift in Orion's
stellar nursery
and still in its formative years,
variable star LL Orionis produces a wind more
energetic than
the wind from our own
middle-aged sun.
As the fast stellar wind runs into slow moving gas a shock front is
formed, analogous to the
bow
wave of a boat moving through water or
a plane traveling at supersonic speed.
The slower gas is flowing away from the Orion Nebula's hot central star
cluster, the
Trapezium, located off the lower right hand edge
of the picture.
In three
dimensions,
LL Ori's wrap-around shock front is shaped like a
bowl that appears brightest when viewed along the "bottom" edge.
The complex
stellar nursery in Orion shows a myriad of similar
fluid
shapes associated with
star formation, including
the bow shock surrounding a faint star at the upper right.
Part of
a mosaic
covering the
Great Nebula
in Orion, this composite color image was recorded
in 1995 by the Hubble Space Telescope.
APOD: 2003 November 5 - The Lynx Arc
Explanation:
While chasing the spectrum of a mysterious arc in a cluster of
galaxies within the obscure northerly
constellation
Lynx, astronomers have
stumbled upon the most massive and distant star-forming region
ever discovered.
The notably red "Lynx arc" lies right of center in
this
color image of the galaxy cluster, a composite of
Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based data.
While the galaxy cluster lies about 5 billion
light-years distant,
spectroscopic studies
show that the arc itself is actually a distorted
image of an even more distant but enormous star-forming region.
The image is formed as the closer galaxy cluster's
gravity
bends light
like a magnifying lens, an effect explained by Einstein's
theory of gravity.
In fact, the monster star-forming region is nearly
12 billion
light-years away
and about a million times brighter than the
more familiar stellar nursery, the
Orion Nebula.
Estimates are that the star-forming region seen as the
Lynx arc contains about a million massive, hot stars, compared
to the four stars which power the
Orion Nebula's glow.
Stars within the Lynx arc are more than twice as hot
as the Orion Nebula's central stars
and were formed when
the Universe was a mere 2 billion years old.
Still, astronomers believe that the
first stars were
formed at even earlier times.
APOD: 2003 October 19 - An Unusual Globule in IC 1396
Explanation:
Is there a monster in IC 1396?
Known to some as the
Elephant's Trunk Nebula, parts of gas and
dust clouds of this
star formation region
may appear to take on foreboding forms, some
nearly human.
The only real
monster here, however, is a
bright young star too far from Earth to hurt us.
Energetic light from this star is eating away the dust of the dark
cometary globule near the top of the
above image.
Jets and
winds of particles
emitted from this star are also pushing away ambient gas and
dust.
Nearly 3,000 light-years distant, the relatively faint
IC 1396 complex covers a much larger region on the
sky than shown here, with an apparent width of more than 10
full moons.
APOD: 2003 September 3 - Galactic Supernova Remnant IC 443
Explanation:
About 8000 years ago, a star in
our Galaxy exploded.
Ancient humans might have noticed the
supernova as a temporary star, but
modern humans can see the expanding shell of gas even today.
Pictured above, part of the shell of
IC 443 is seen to be composed of
complex filaments,
some of which are impacting an existing
molecular cloud.
Here emission from
shock-excited
molecular
hydrogen is allowing astronomers to study how fast moving
supernova gas affects star formation in the cloud.
Additionally, astronomers theorize that the
impact accelerates some particles to velocities near the speed of light.
Supernova remnant
IC 443 is also known to shine brightly also in
infrared and
X-ray light.
APOD: 2003 August 30 - Recycling Cassiopeia A
Explanation:
For billions of years,
massive stars in our Milky Way
Galaxy have lived spectacular lives.
Collapsing from vast cosmic
clouds, their nuclear furnaces
ignite and create heavy elements in their cores.
After a few million years, the
enriched material is blasted
back into interstellar space where star formation
begins anew.
The expanding debris cloud known
as
Cassiopeia A is an example
of this final phase of the stellar life cycle.
Light from the explosion which created this supernova remnant was
probably first
seen
in planet Earth's sky just over 300 years ago,
although it took that light more than 10,000 years to reach us.
In this gorgeous
Hubble Space Telescope image of cooling filaments
and knots in the Cas A remnant, light
from specific elements has been color coded to help astronomers
understand the recycling of our galaxy's
star stuff.
For instance, red regions are dominated by emission from sulfur atoms
while blue shades correspond to oxygen.
The
area shown is about 10 light-years across.
APOD: 2003 August 21 - X-Rays from M17
Explanation:
About 5,000
light-years
away, toward the constellation Sagittarius
and the center of our galaxy,
lies the bright star forming region
cataloged as M17.
In visible light, M17's bowed and hollowed-out appearance has resulted in
many popular names
like the Horseshoe, Swan, Omega, and Lobster
nebula.
But what has
sculpted this glowing gas cloud?
This
Chandra
Observatory image of x-rays from M17 provides a clue.
Many massive young stars are responsible for the pink
central region of the false-color
x-ray picture, their colliding
stellar winds producing the
multimillion
degree gas cloud
which extends ten or so light-years to the left.
When compared
with visible light images,
this x-ray hot cloud is partly surrounded by the nebula's cooler gas.
In fact, having carved out a central cavity
the hot gas seems to be flowing out of the horseshoe
shape like champagne from an uncorked bottle ...
suggesting yet another name for star forming
region M17.
APOD: 2003 August 16 - Thackeray's Globules
Explanation:
Rich star fields
and glowing hydrogen gas silhouette
dense, opaque clouds of interstellar gas and dust
in this Hubble Space Telescope
close-up
of IC 2944, a bright star forming region
in Centaurus, 5,900 light-years away.
The largest of these dark globules,
first spotted by South African astronomer A. D. Thackeray in 1950,
is likely two separate but overlapping clouds, each more than one
light-year wide.
Combined the clouds contain material
equivalent to about
15 times the mass of the Sun, but will they actually
collapse to form massive stars?
Along with other data, the
sharp
Hubble images indicate that
Thackeray's globules are fractured and churning as a result
of intense ultraviolet radiation from young, hot stars already
energizing and heating the bright
emission nebula.
These and similar dark globules
known to be associated with other
star forming regions may ultimately be dissipated
by their hostile environment --
like cosmic lumps of butter in a
hot frying pan.
APOD: 2003 August 8 - Blue Stragglers in NGC 6397
Explanation:
In our neck of the
Galaxy stars are too
far apart
to be in danger of colliding, but in the dense cores of
globular star clusters star collisions
may be relatively common.
In fact,
researchers have evidence that the
closely spaced blue stars near the center of the
above image taken by the orbiting
Hubble Space Telescope
were formed when stars directly collided.
Pictured is the central region of
NGC 6397, a
globular cluster
about 6,000 light-years distant, whose
stars all formed at about the same time.
NGC 6397's
massive stars have long since evolved off the main sequence,
exhausting their central supplies of
nuclear fuel.
This should leave the cluster with only old low mass stars; faint red
main sequence stars and brighter blue and
red giants.
However, spectroscopic data show that the indicated stars, descriptively
dubbed blue stragglers, are clearly
main sequence stars which are too blue and too massive to still be there.
Suggestively the
stragglers appear to be two and occasionally three
times as massive as the lower mass cluster stars
otherwise present,
supporting evidence for
their formation from two and even three star collisions.
APOD: 2003 July 18 - The Planet, the White Dwarf, and the Neutron Star
Explanation:
A planet,
a white dwarf, and
a neutron star
orbit each other in
the giant globular star
cluster M4,
some 5,600 light-years away.
The most visible member of the
trio is the white dwarf star, indicated above in an
image
from the Hubble Space Telescope,
while the neutron star is detected at radio frequencies as
a pulsar.
A third body was known to be present in the pulsar/white
dwarf system and a detailed analysis of the
Hubble
data has indicated it is
indeed a planet
with about 2.5 times the mass of Jupiter.
In such a system, the planet is likely to be
about 13 billion years old.
Compared to our solar system's tender 4.5 billion years
and other
identified
planets of nearby stars,
this truly ancient world is by far the oldest planet known,
almost as old as the Universe itself.
Its discovery as part of an evolved cosmic trio suggests that
planet formation spans the age of the Universe and that
this newly discovered planet is likely only one of many formed
in the crowded environs
of globular star clusters.
APOD: 2003 June 22 - Massive Stars of 30 Doradus
Explanation:
In the center of star-forming region
30 Doradus lies a huge cluster of the largest, hottest,
most massive stars known.
These stars and part of the surrounding nebula are captured here in
this gorgeous visible-light
Hubble Space Telescope image.
Gas and dust clouds in 30 Doradus, also known as the
Tarantula Nebula,
have been sculpted into elongated shapes by
powerful winds and ultraviolet radiation from these
hot cluster stars.
Insets in the picture represent corresponding views from the
Hubble's infrared camera
where each square measures 15.5
light-years across.
Penetrating the obscuring
dust, these infrared images themselves
offer detailed pictures of
star formation within
the nebula's collapsing clouds, revealing
the presence of newborn massive stars.
The 30 Doradus Nebula
lies within a neighboring galaxy,
the Large Magellanic Cloud,
located a mere 170,000 light-years away.
APOD: 2003 June 20 - Snake in the Dark
Explanation:
Dark nebulae snake
across a gorgeous expanse of stars in
this
wide-field view
toward the
pronounceable
constellation Ophiucus and the center
of our Milky Way Galaxy.
In fact, the central
S-shape seen here is well known as the
Snake Nebula.
It is also listed as Barnard 72 (B72), one of 182
dark markings of the sky
cataloged in the early 20th century
by astronomer E. E. Barnard.
Unlike bright emission nebulae and star clusters,
Barnard's nebulae
are interstellar dark clouds of obscuring
gas and dust.
Their shapes are visible in
cosmic silhouette
only because they lie in the foreground along
the
line of sight to rich star fields
and glowing stellar nurseries near the plane of our Galaxy.
Many of Barnard's dark nebulae are themselves likely sites
of future star formation.
Barnard 72
is a few light years across and about 650 light years away.
APOD: 2003 June 12 - Cyg X-1: Can Black Holes Form in the Dark?
Explanation:
The formation of a
black hole from the collapsing
core of a massive star is thought to be heralded by a spectacular
supernova explosion.
Such an extremely energetic collapse is also a
leading explanation
for the mysterious cosmic gamma-ray bursts.
But researchers now suggest that the Milky Way's most
famous black hole,
Cygnus X-1, was born when a massive
star collapsed --
without
any supernova explosion at all.
Their dynamical evidence is summarized in this
color image of a gorgeous
region in Cygnus,
showing Cyg X-1 and a cluster of massive stars
(yellow circles) known as Cygnus OB3.
Arrows compare the measured direction and speed of Cyg X-1
and the average direction and speed of the massive stars
of Cyg OB3.
The similar motions indicate that
Cyg X-1's progenitor star was itself a cluster member
and that its path was not altered at all when it
became a black hole.
In contrast, if Cyg X-1 were born in a violent supernova
it would have likely received a
fierce
kick, changing its course.
If not a supernova, could
the formation
of the Cyg X-1 black
hole have produced a dark
gamma-ray burst in
the
Milky Way?
APOD: 2003 May 3 - Denizen of the Tarantula Nebula
Explanation:
The star cluster at lower right,
cataloged
as Hodge 301, is a denizen of
the Tarantula Nebula.
An evocative nebula in the southern sky,
the sprawling cosmic Tarantula is an energetic
star
forming region some 168,000 light-years distant
in our neighboring galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud.
The stars within Hodge 301 formed together tens of millions of years ago
and as the massive ones quickly exhaust their nuclear fuel they
explode.
In fact, the giant stars of
Hodge 301
are rapidly approaching this violent final phase of stellar evolution -
known
as a supernova.
These supernova blasts send material and
shock
waves back into the nebular
gas to create the Tarantula's glowing filaments also visible in this
Hubble Space Telescope
Heritage image.
But these spectacular stellar death explosions signal star birth
as well, as the blast waves condense gas and dust to ultimately
form the next generation of stars
inside the Tarantula Nebula.
APOD: 2003 April 25 - M17: A Hubble Close-Up
Explanation:
Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation, these fantastic, undulating
shapes lie within the
stellar
nursery known
as M17,
the Omega Nebula, some 5,500 light-years away in the
nebula-rich constellation Sagittarius.
The lumpy features
in the dense cold gas and dust are illuminated
by stars off the upper left of the image and may themselves
represent sites of future star formation.
Colors in the fog of surrounding hotter material indicate
M17's
chemical make up.
The predominately green glow corresponds to abundant hydrogen,
with trace sulfur and oxygen atoms contributing red and blue hues.
The picture spans about 3 light-years and was
released
to celebrate
the thirteenth year of the
Hubble Space Telescope's
cosmic voyage of exploration.
APOD: 2003 April 23 - The Stars of NGC 1705
Explanation:
Some 2,000 light-years across, NGC 1705 is small as galaxies go,
similar to our Milky Way's own satellite galaxies,
the Magellanic Clouds.
At a much larger distance of 17 million light-years, the
stars
of NGC 1705 are still easily resolved in
this beautiful image
constructed from data taken in 1999 and 2000 with the Hubble Space
Telescope.
Most of the younger, hot, blue
stars in the galaxy are
seen to be concentrated in a large central star cluster with the
older, cooler,
red stars more evenly distributed.
Possibly 13 billion years old,
NGC 1705 could well have been
forming stars through out its lifetime while light from its most recent
burst of star formation reached Earth only 30 million years ago.
This gradually evolving dwarf irregular galaxy
lacks
organized structures like spiral arms and
is thought to
be a nearby analog to the
first
galaxies to form
in the early Universe.
APOD: 2003 April 7 - NGC 281: Cluster, Clouds, and Globules
Explanation:
NGC 281 is a busy workshop of star formation.
Prominent features include a small
open cluster of stars,
a diffuse red-glowing
emission nebula, large lanes of obscuring
gas and
dust, and dense knots
of dust and gas in which stars may still be forming.
The open cluster
of stars IC 1590 visible around the center
has formed only in the last few million years.
The brightest member of this cluster is actually a
multiple-star system
shining light that helps ionize the nebula's gas,
causing the red glow visible throughout.
The lanes of dust
visible below the center are likely homes
of future star formation.
Particularly striking in the
above photograph are the dark
Bok globules
visible against the bright nebula.
Stars are surely forming there right now.
The entire
NGC 281 system lies about 10 thousand light years distant.
APOD: 2003 March 4 - In the Center of the Lagoon Nebula
Explanation:
The center of the Lagoon Nebula is busy with the
awesome spectacle of star formation.
Visible in the lower left, at least two long funnel-shaped clouds,
each roughly half a light-year long, have been formed by extreme
stellar winds
and intense energetic starlight.
The tremendously bright nearby star,
Hershel 36, lights the area.
Vast walls of dust
hide and redden other hot young stars.
As energy from these stars pours into the
cool dust and gas,
large temperature differences in adjoining regions
can be created generating
shearing winds which may cause the funnels.
This picture, spanning about 5 light years, was taken in 1995 by the
orbiting Hubble Space Telescope.
The
Lagoon Nebula, also known as
M8, lies about 5000
light years distant toward the
constellation of
Sagittarius.
APOD: 2003 February 8 - AB Aurigae: How To Make Planets
Explanation:
This enhanced Hubble Space Telescope
image
shows in remarkable detail
the inner portion of the disk of
dust and gas surrounding the star AB Aurigae.
Knots of material, visible here for the first time, may well represent
an early stage of a process which could result in the formation
of planets over the
next few million years.
AB Aurigae is a young star
(2-4 million years old), about 469 light-years distant.
Its swirling
circumstellar disk is large,
about 30 times the size of
our
solar system.
Astronomers believe
planet-making
is just beginning in AB Aurigae's disk because
known disks surrounding younger stars (less than 1 million years old)
do not show such clumpy structure,
while disks of slightly older stars
(aged 8-10 million years) have gaps and
features suggesting
that planets have already been formed.
Why the window pane appearance?
Wide black stripes in the picture are caused by occulting bars used
to block out the overwhelming starlight.
The diagonal streaks
are due to diffraction spikes.
APOD: 2003 February 6 - X-Rays from M83
Explanation:
Bright and beautiful spiral galaxy
M83 lies a mere
twelve million light-years from Earth, toward the
headstrong constellation
Hydra.
Sweeping spiral arms, prominent in visible light images,
lend this galaxy its popular moniker --
the Southern Pinwheel.
In fact, the spiral arms are still apparent in this
Chandra Observatory false-color
x-ray image of M83,
traced by diffuse, hot,
x-ray emitting gas.
But more striking in the
x-ray
image is the galaxy's bright central
region.
The central emission likely represents even hotter gas
created by a sudden burst
of massive star formation.
Point-like neutron star and black hole x-ray
sources,
final stages in the life cycles of massive stars,
also show a
concentration near
the center of M83 and offer
further evidence for a burst of star formation
at this galaxy's core.
Light from this burst of star formation
would have first reached Earth some 20 million years ago.
APOD: 2003 January 27 - BHR 71: Stars, Clouds, and Jets
Explanation:
What is happening to
molecular cloud BHR 71?
Quite possible, a binary star
system is forming inside.
Most stars in
our Galaxy are part of
binary star systems,
but few have ever been seen in formation.
Recent observations of
dust-darkened
Bok Globule BHR 71, however,
show evidence for two young stars forming deep in the cloud,
likely close enough to form a binary.
Isolated BHR 71 spans about one
light year and lies only about 600 light years away
in the southern sky.
The brighter embedded star -- not visible here --
is about 10 times as bright as the
Sun
and drives the jet that
swept out the empty lane.
The above four-color image was taken with a
Very Large Telescope in
Chile.
APOD: 2002 December 20 - Colorful Clouds of Orion
Explanation:
Revisiting one of the most
famous nebulae in
planet Earth's night sky,
astrophotographer
Robert Gendler has constructed this stunning,
color-enhanced mosaic
of the region surrounding the
Great
Nebula in Orion.
As seen here, the
clouds of Orion are dominated by the
reddish emission nebula M42
near the bottom of the image,
with blue reflection nebulae, including
NGC 1977, near the top.
Strewn with dust lanes and dark nebulae,
the striking cosmic apparitions
surrounding Orion's
stellar nurseries are about 1,500 light-years away and are
themselves several light-years across.
Located at the edge of a giant molecular
cloud complex
spanning hundreds of light-years, these nebulae represent only a small,
but very visible(!), fraction of this region's wealth of
interstellar
material.
Within these colorful clouds of Orion,
astronomers have also
identified what appear to be numerous
infant solar systems.
APOD: 2002 November 2 - NGC 604: Giant Stellar Nursery
Explanation:
Scattered within
this
cavernous nebula, cataloged as
NGC 604,
are over 200 newly formed hot, massive, stars.
At 1,500 light-years across, this expansive cloud of interstellar gas
and dust is effectively a giant
stellar nursery located some three million light-years distant in
the spiral galaxy, M33.
The newborn stars irradiate the gas with
energetic ultraviolet light
stripping electrons from atoms and producing a
characteristic
nebular glow.
The
details
of the nebula's structure hold
clues to the mysteries of star formation and galaxy evolution.
APOD: 2002 October 17 - Centaurus A: Young Blue Star Stream
Explanation:
Almost lost in this cosmic jumble of stars, gas and dust is a faint but
definite blue arc -- a
stream of young stars whose formation was
probably triggered as a small dwarf galaxy was
torn apart
approaching the giant elliptical galaxy
Centaurus A.
The 2,000 light-year long arc is revealed in the upper right corner of
this
processed color
digital image, while the dense central region
of Centaurus A is near the bottom.
Star clusters that make up the blue arc are likely strung out along the
incoming trajectory of the small galaxy and are estimated to be only
200-400 million years old.
The remarkable result
suggests that astronomers have identified
a spectacular example of a kind of galactic cannibalism in progress,
a process which is believed to contribute to the formation and
evolution
of large galaxies, including our own
Milky Way.
Over time, stars and star clusters in this stream should
eventually disperse and merge
with tumultuous Centaurus A.
The image data was recorded with the four meter
Blanco
telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory.
APOD: 2002 July 25 - NGC 1569: Heavy Elements from a Small Galaxy
Explanation:
For astronomers, elements other than
hydrogen and
helium
are sometimes considered to be simply "heavy elements".
It's understandable really, because even lumped all together
heavy elements make up an exceedingly small
fraction of the Universe.
Still, heavy elements can profoundly influence galaxy
and star formation ...
not to mention the formation of planets
and people.
In
this tantalizing
false-color x-ray image from the orbiting
Chandra
Observatory, small dwarf galaxy
NGC 1569 is
surrounded by
x-ray emitting
clouds of gas thousands of light-years
across.
The gas has
recently
been observed to contain significant
concentrations of astronomers' heavy elements such as oxygen, silicon,
and magnesium, supporting
the idea that dwarf galaxies,
the most common type of galaxy in the Universe,
are largely responsible for heavy elements
in intergalactic space.
A mere 7 million light-years distant toward the
long-necked
constellation
Camelopardalis,
NGC 1569 has undergone a recent burst of
star formation and stellar
supernova explosions.
The furious cosmic activity
has heated
the expanding gas clouds to temperatures of millions of degrees
while enriching them with newly synthesized
heavy elements.
APOD: 2002 July 12 - Recycling Cassiopeia A
Explanation:
For billions of years,
massive stars in our Milky Way
Galaxy have lived spectacular lives.
Collapsing from vast cosmic
clouds, their nuclear furnaces
ignite and create heavy elements in their cores.
After a few million years, the
enriched material is blasted
back into interstellar space where star formation
begins anew.
The expanding debris cloud known
as
Cassiopeia A is an example
of this final phase of the stellar life cycle.
Light from the explosion which created this supernova remnant was
probably first
seen
in planet Earth's sky just over 300 years ago,
although it took that light more than 10,000 years to reach us.
In this gorgeous
Hubble Space Telescope image of cooling filaments
and knots in the Cas A remnant, light
from specific elements has been color coded to help astronomers
understand the recycling of our galaxy's
star stuff.
For instance, red regions are dominated by emission from sulfur atoms
while blue shades correspond to oxygen.
The
area shown is about 10 light-years across.
APOD: 2002 July 11 - M51: X Rays from the Whirlpool
Explanation:
Fresh from yesterday's episode,
a popular pair of interacting galaxies
known as the
Whirlpool debut here beyond
the realm of visible
light -- imaged at high energies by the orbiting Chandra X-ray
Observatory.
Still turning in a remarkable performance, over 80 glittering
x-ray stars are present in
the
Chandra image data from the region.
The number of luminous x-ray
sources, likely neutron star and black hole
binary
systems within the confines of M51, is unusually high
for normal spiral or elliptical galaxies and suggests this cosmic
whirlpool has experienced
intense
bursts of massive star formation.
The bright cores of both galaxies, NGC 5194 and NGC 5195
(right and left respectively), also exhibit high-energy
activity in this false-color x-ray picture showing a diffuse
glow from multi-million degree gas.
An
expanded view of the region near the core of NGC 5194
reveals x-rays
from a supernova remnant, the debris from
a spectacular stellar explosion,
first detected by
earthbound astronomers in 1994.
APOD: 2002 July 4 - Young Star Clusters in an Old Galaxy
Explanation:
Elliptical galaxy NGC 4365 is old, probably about 12 billion years old.
Like most
elliptical galaxies, this galaxy was
thought to be full of old stars too, its burst of
star forming activity
having long since ended.
But combining data from the
Hubble Space Telescope
and the European
Southern Observatory's ground-based
Antu Telescope,
a team of European and
US
astronomers discovered
NGC 4365's surprising secret -- some of its star
clusters are young.
In this composite image,
the galaxy's bright nucleus is at the upper left.
NGC 4365's
star clusters
themselves appear as bright dots against
a diffuse glow of unresolved starlight and fuzzy, distant
background galaxies.
The notched border outlines
Hubble's WFPC2 camera field.
Moving the cursor over the image identifies individual star
clusters, with the relatively young (few billion year-old) clusters
circled in blue, and the anticipated 12 billion year-old clusters
circled in red.
NGC 4365
is 60 million light-years away in the
Virgo galaxy cluster.
APOD: 2002 May 3 - Cone Nebula Close Up
Explanation:
Cones, pillars, and majestic
flowing shapes abound in
stellar
nurseries where natal clouds of gas and dust are buffeted by
energetic winds from newborn stars.
A well-known example, the
Cone
Nebula within the bright
galactic star-forming region NGC 2264, was captured in
this close-up view
from the Hubble Space Telescope's
newest camera.
While the Cone Nebula,
about 2,500 light-years away
in Monoceros,
is around 7 light-years long,
the region pictured here
surrounding the cone's blunted head is a mere 2.5 light-years across.
In our neck
of the galaxy that distance
is just
over half way
from the Sun to its nearest stellar neighbor,
Alpha Centauri.
The massive star
NGC
2264 IRS, seen by Hubble's infrared camera
in 1997, is the likely source of the wind
sculpting the Cone Nebula and lies off the top of the image.
The Cone Nebula's reddish veil is
produced by glowing hydrogen gas.
APOD: 2002 March 25 - An Unusual Globule in IC 1396
Explanation:
Is there a monster in IC 1396?
Known to some as the
Elephant's Trunk Nebula, parts of gas and
dust clouds of this
star formation region
may appear to take on foreboding forms, some
nearly human.
The only real
monster here, however, is a
bright young star too far from Earth to hurt us.
Energetic light from this star is eating away the dust of the dark
cometary globule near the top of the
above image.
Jets and
winds of particles emitted
from this star are also pushing away ambient gas and dust.
Nearly 3,000 light-years distant, the relatively faint
IC 1396 complex covers a much larger region on the
sky than shown here, with an apparent width of more than 10
full moons.
APOD: 2002 March 13 - LL Orionis: When Cosmic Winds Collide
Explanation:
This arcing,
graceful structure is actually a bow shock about half a
light-year across, created as the wind from young star LL Orionis
collides with the
Orion Nebula flow.
Adrift in Orion's
stellar nursery
and still in its formative years,
variable star LL Orionis produces a wind more
energetic than
the wind from our own
middle-aged sun.
As the fast stellar wind runs into slow moving gas a shock front is
formed, analogous to the
bow
wave of a boat moving through water or
a plane traveling at supersonic speed.
The slower gas is flowing away from the Orion Nebula's hot central star
cluster, the
Trapezium, located off the lower right hand edge
of the picture.
In three
dimensions,
LL Ori's wrap-around shock front is shaped like a
bowl that appears brightest when viewed along the "bottom" edge.
The complex
stellar nursery in Orion shows a myriad of similar
fluid
shapes associated with
star formation, including
the bow shock surrounding a faint star at the upper right.
Part of
a mosaic
covering the
Great Nebula
in Orion, this composite color image was recorded
in 1995 by the Hubble Space Telescope.
APOD: 2002 February 18 - A Radio Vista of Cygnus
Explanation:
Shells of ancient
supernovas, cocoons surrounding
newborn stars, and specks from
distant quasars highlight this
tremendous vista toward the constellation of
Cygnus.
The representative color image covers about 10 degrees
across on the sky but is only a small part of the
Canadian Galactic Plane Survey in
radio light.
Diffuse bands of
ionized gas flow though a dominating region of
star formation, located about 6000
light-years away.
Two prominent
supernova shells visible include the brown globule on the lower left and the white bumpy sphere on the upper right.
To the left of the brown globule is the entire
North America Nebula.
Prominent stellar cocoons
are visible throughout the image as bright white knots.
Some of these stars will likely generate future
supernova shells.
Far in the distance, visible here as only red dots,
quasars glow.
APOD: 2002 January 8 - Thackeray's Globules
Explanation:
Rich star fields
and glowing hydrogen gas silhouette
dense, opaque clouds of interstellar gas and dust
in this Hubble Space Telescope
close-up
of IC 2944, a bright star forming region
in Centaurus, 5,900 light-years away.
The largest of these dark globules,
first spotted by South African astronomer A. D. Thackeray in 1950,
is likely two separate but
overlapping clouds, each more than one
light-year wide.
Combined the clouds contain material
equivalent to about
15 times the mass of the Sun, but will they actually
collapse to form massive stars?
Along with other data, the
sharp
Hubble images indicate that
Thackeray's globules are fractured and churning as a result
of intense ultraviolet radiation from young, hot stars already
energizing and heating the bright emission nebula.
These and similar dark globules
known to be associated with other
star forming regions may ultimately be dissipated
by their hostile environment --
like cosmic lumps of butter in a hot frying pan.
The chevron shape of the picture outlines the detectors of
the Hubble's WFPC2 camera.
APOD: 2002 January 4 - M16: Infrared Star Hunt
Explanation:
The head of an interstellar gas and dust cloud is shown
here in false-color,
a near-infrared view
recorded by astronomers hunting for stars within
M16's
Eagle Nebula.
Made famous in a
1995
Hubble image
of the 7,000 light-year
distant star forming region,
the pillar-shaped cloud's surface
was seen to be covered with finger-like evaporating
gaseous globules (EGGs).
The near-infrared image
penetrates the obscuring dust cloud's
edges.
But the cloud's core appears dark and
opaque, even at these
relatively long wavelengths.
Still, this image, made with
ESO's
Antu telescope,
reveals
a massive, bright yellow star
not directly detected in the
visible light
Hubble data.
This very young star lights up the
small bluish nebula with a dark, twisted central
stripe, just above it.
Below and to its right are several much fainter, less massive stars
also not seen in visible light - newborn stars which lie within
the Eagle's EGGs.
These newborn stars may have already been collapsing, forming
from material inside the nebula before
the intense radiation from other,
nearby, emerging hot stars
eroded and sculpted the dramatic pillars and EGGs.
In any event, as the dusty clouds are eroded
away, stars still forming will be cutoff from their reservoir
of star stuff.
Further growth and even the development of
planetary systems
will likely be seriously affected.
APOD: 2001 December 30 - Trifid Pillars and Jets
Explanation:
Dust pillars are like
interstellar mountains.
They survive because they are more dense than their
surroundings, but they are being slowly
eroded away by a hostile environment.
Visible in the
above picture is the end of a
huge gas and dust pillar in the
Trifid Nebula,
punctuated by a smaller pillar pointing up and an unusual
jet pointing to the left.
The pink dots are newly formed low-mass stars.
A star near the small pillar's end is
slowly being stripped of its
accreting gas by radiation from a tremendously brighter star
situated off the
above picture to the upper right.
The jet extends nearly a
light-year and would
not be visible without external illumination.
As gas and
dust evaporate from the pillars,
the hidden stellar source of this
jet will likely be uncovered,
possibly over the next 20,000 years.
APOD: 2001 December 25 - Star Forming Region Hubble V
Explanation:
How did stars form in the early universe?
Astronomers are gaining insight by studying
NGC 6822, a nearby galaxy classified as
irregular by modern standards but appearing more typical of
galaxies billions of years ago.
Inspection of NGC 6822 shows several bright star groups,
including two dubbed
Hubble-X and Hubble-V.
Pictured above, the
Hubble Space Telescope has resolved
Hubble V into the energetic stars
that are lighting up the surrounding gas.
Each star in the central dense knot of
Hubble V shines brighter than 100,000
Suns.
The Hubble V gas cloud spans about 200
light years and lies about 1.5 million light-years away toward the
constellation
Sagittarius.
APOD: 2001 December 22 - Hot Stars in the Southern Milky Way
Explanation:
Hot blue stars, red glowing hydrogen gas, and dark, obscuring dust
clouds are strewn through this dramatic region of
the Milky Way in the southern constellation
of Ara (the Altar).
About 4,000 light-years from Earth, the stars at the left are
young, massive, and energetic.
Their intense
ultraviolet radiation is eating away at the nearby
star forming cloud complex - ionizing the hydrogen gas and producing
the characteristic
red "hydrogen-alpha" glow.
At right, visible within the dark dust nebula,
is small cluster of newborn stars.
This beautiful color picture is a
composite of images made through
blue, green, and hydrogen-alpha filters.
APOD: 2001 November 3 - Bright Stars, Dim Galaxy
Explanation:
These two clusters of bright, newly formed stars
surrounded by
a glowing nebula lie 10 million light-years away in the dim,
irregular galaxy cataloged as NGC 2366.
The Hubble
Space Telescope image shows that the youngest cluster,
the bottom one at about 2 million years old,
is still surrounded by the gas and dust cloud it condensed from, while
powerful stellar winds from the stars
in the older cluster at the top (4-5 million years old),
have begun to clear away its central areas giving the entire nebula
an apparent inverted hook shape.
Compared to the sun, the stars in these clusters
are massive and
short lived.
The brightest one, near the tip of the hook, is a rare Luminous Blue Variable
with 30 to 60 times the mass of the sun - similar to the erruptive
Eta Carinae in our own Milky Way.
Stars this massive
are extremely variable.
A comparison with ground based images indicates that in three
years this star's brightness increased by about 40 times making it currently
the brightest star in
this dim galaxy.
APOD: 2001 September 11 - Spiral Galaxy NGC 3310 Across the Visible
Explanation:
The party is still going on in spiral galaxy NGC 3310.
Roughly 100 million years ago,
NGC 3310 likely
collided with a smaller galaxy
causing the large
spiral galaxy
to light up with a tremendous burst of
star formation.
The changing gravity during the collision created
density waves that compressed existing
clouds of gas and triggered the
star-forming party.
The
above image composite by the
Hubble Space Telescope
was used to find the ages of many of the resulting
clusters of stars.
To the surprise of many, some of the
clusters are quite young,
indicating that
starburst galaxies may remain in
star-burst mode for quite some time.
NGC 3310 spans about 50,000 light years, lies about 50 million light years away,
and is visible with a small
telescope towards the constellation of
Ursa Major.
APOD: 2001 August 29 - AFGL 2591: A Massive Star Acts Up
Explanation:
Young star AFGL 2591 is putting on a show.
The massive star is expelling outer layers of
dust-laced gas as
gravity pulls inner material toward the surface.
AFGL 2591 is estimated to be about one million years old --
much younger than our own
Sun's 5 billion-year age -- and has created a
nebula over 500 times the diameter of our
Solar System in just the past 10,000 years.
The above image in
infrared light is one of the first from the new
NIRI instrument mounted on one of the
largest
ground-based optical telescopes in the world:
Gemini North.
Sharp details are discernable that are blocked by opaque
dust in
visible-light images.
Close inspection of
the image reveals at least four expanding rings,
indicating an episodic origin to the mysterious activity.
AFGL 2591 lies about 3000
light years away toward the constellation of
Cygnus.
APOD: 2001 August 22 - The Bubbling Cauldron of NGC 3079
Explanation:
Edge-on
spiral galaxy NGC 3079 is a mere 50 million light-years away
toward the constellation Ursa Major.
Shown in this
stunning false-color
Hubble Space Telescope
image, the galaxy's disk - composed of spectacular
star clusters in winding spiral arms and dramatic
dark lanes of dust -
spans
some 70,000 light-years.
Still, NGC 3079's most eye-catching features are the pillars of gas
which tower above a swirling cosmic cauldron of activity
at the galaxy's center.
Seen in the close-up inset at lower right, the pillars rise to a
height of about 2,000 light-years and seem to lie on the surface
of an immense bubble rising from the galactic core.
Measurements indicate that the gaseous pillars are streaming away
from the core at 6 million kilometers per hour.
What makes this galaxy's
cauldron bubble?
Astronomers
are exploring the
possibility that the superbubble is
formed
by winds from massive stars.
If so, these massive stars were likely born all at once as the
galactic center underwent a
sudden burst of star formation.
APOD: 2001 July 20 - The Elephant's Trunk in IC 1396
Explanation:
Like a picture from a galactic
Just
So Story, the
Elephant's Trunk Nebula
winds through the emission nebula and young star cluster
complex
IC 1396, in the high and far off constellation
of Cepheus.
Bright swept-back ridges
compose the suggestive form, outlining pockets of interstellar dust
and gas.
Such embedded dark,
comet-shaped clouds contain the
raw material for star formation.
About 3,000
light-years distant, the relatively faint
IC
1396 complex covers a much larger region on the sky than shown
here, with an apparent width of more than 10 full moons.
This
close-up telescopic view is a delightful
color
mosaic of two digital images intended to follow
the 'satiable
curious cosmic trunk.
APOD: 2001 July 12 - NGC 1850: Not Found in the Milky Way
Explanation:
A mere 168,000 light-years distant, this large, lovely cluster of
stars, NGC 1850,
is located near the outskirts of the central
bar structure in our neighboring galaxy, the
Large
Magellanic Cloud.
A first glance
at
this Hubble Space Telescope
composite
image suggests that
this cluster's size and shape are reminiscent of the ancient globular
star clusters which roam our own
Milky Way Galaxy's halo.
But NGC 1850's stars are young ... making it a type
of star cluster
with no known counterpart
in the Milky Way.
NGC 1850 is also a double star cluster, with a second, compact
cluster of stars visible here below and to the right of
the large cluster's central region.
Stars in the large cluster are estimated to be
50 million
years
young, while stars in the compact cluster are
younger still, with an age of about 4 million years.
In fact, the smaller cluster
contains T-Tauri
stars, thought
to be low mass, solar-type stars still
in the
process of formation.
The glowing nebula at the left, like the
supernova remnants in our own galaxy,
testifies to violent stellar explosions,
indicating short-lived massive stars
were also present
in NGC 1850.
APOD: 2001 June 14 - Around The Arches Cluster
Explanation:
The most compact cluster of stars known in our galaxy,
the Arches cluster, boasts 100 or so massive, young
stars contained within a diameter of one light-year.
Seen toward the
constellation Sagittarius, the
Arches cluster is
about 25,000 light-years from planet
Earth and lies within a scant 100 light-years of
the supermassive black hole believed to lurk
in our Milky Way Galaxy's center.
This
combination of images in
radio,
infrared, and
x-ray light
illustrates this star cluster's bizarre galactic neighborhood.
Shown
in red, radio emission traces the filamentary arching
structures near
the galactic center around the
Arches cluster location.
Within the zoomed inset box, infrared image data shows some of
the cluster's individual stars as bright point-like sources.
The diffuse emission in blue surrounding the cluster stars is a
false-color
x-ray image of an enveloping cloud of 60 million degree
gas -- the
first time such an energetic star cluster halo has
been detected.
Astronomers
consider the tightly packed and relatively nearby Arches cluster,
an analog of the furious star forming regions
in galaxies
millions of light-years away.
APOD: 2001 June 13 - M94: Beyond the Blue
Explanation:
Today's galaxy,
M94 (NGC 4736),
lies 15 million light-years away in the constellation
Canes
Venatici.
In the red light image (left), its very bright nucleus and
tightly wound spiral arms seem to slowly fade into a faint outer disk.
But when viewed in
wavelengths shorter than blue light -
ultraviolet (UV) light
- its appearance dramatically changes.
While the red light image highlights the older, cooler stars
of M94,
the UV picture (right), from the
shuttle-borne Ultraviolet Imaging
Telescope, is dominated by clusters of massive, hot stars a
mere 10 million
years young.
These UV bright young star clusters are mostly arranged in a
stunning ring nearly 7,000 light-years wide
around the galactic nucleus.
What controls this star forming activity?
Exploring
wavelengths
beyond the blue, astronomers now have
evidence that star forming activity in galaxies
like M94 can be
orchestrated
by the symmetric structure
of the galaxies themselves
instead of the titanic galaxy-galaxy collisions suspected in
yesterday's case of the Cartwheel galaxy.
APOD: 2001 June 12 - The Cartwheel Galaxy
Explanation:
By chance, a collision of two galaxies has created
a surprisingly recognizable shape on a cosmic scale.
The Cartwheel Galaxy is part of a
group of galaxies
about 500 million light years away in the
constellation
Sculptor.
Two smaller galaxies in the group are visible
on the left of the
above photograph.
The Cartwheel's rim is an immense ring-like structure 100,000
light years in diameter composed of
newly formed, extremely bright, massive stars.
When galaxies collide,
they pass through each other --
their individual stars rarely come into contact.
The galaxies' gravitational fields, however, may be greatly
distorted by the collision.
In fact, the
ring-like shape
is the result of the gravitational disruption
caused by a small intruder galaxy passing
through a large one, compressing
the interstellar gas and dust, and causing a
wave of star formation wave to move out from
the impact point like a ripple across the surface of a pond.
In this case, the large galaxy may have originally been a
spiral, not unlike our own
Milky Way Galaxy,
transformed by the collision.
Recent astronomical detective work has indicated
what has become of the intruder.
APOD: 2001 June 4 - The T Tauri Star Forming System
Explanation:
What did the Sun look like before there were planets?
A prototype laboratory for the formation of
low mass stars like our Sun is the
T Tauri system, one of the
brighter star systems toward the
constellation of
Taurus.
In
young systems, gravity causes a
gas cloud to condense.
The situation then usually becomes quite complex,
as some of the infalling gas is heated so much by
collisions that it is immediately expelled as an
outgoing wind.
Complex geometries including
jets and
disks form as the
infalling and outflowing gas collide
and interact with a changing
magnetic field.
Pictured above is a false-color image of the
T Tauri system itself, which turns out to be a
binary.
In a
few million years, the central condensate
will likely become hot enough to ignite
nuclear fusion, by which time much of
the surrounding circumstellar material will
either have fallen in or have been driven off by the
stellar wind.
At that time, a
new star will shine.
APOD: 2001 May 18 - HD 82943: Planet Swallower
Explanation:
Stars like HD 82943 are main
sequence G dwarf stars with
temperatures and compositions similar
to
the Sun.
Also like the Sun, HD 82943 is
known to have at least
two giant planets,
but unlike gas giants in our solar system
their orbits are not nearly circular and bring them closer to the
parent star.
Astronomers now point to strong observational
evidence that HD 82943
used to have more planets ... but swallowed them in the past.
Such a cosmic cataclysm is illustrated above in an artist's
dramatic vision.
As a result, planetary debris would contaminate the outer
layers of HD 82943.
Researchers using a
high resolution spectrograph at the
European Southern Observatory's
Kueyen telescope believe they have
seen a clear signature of this contamination by
identifying the isotope
Lithium-6 in this
sun-like star's spectrum.
Because the light element Lithium-6 is so readily destroyed
in nuclear reactions during star formation, no significant Lithium-6
should now exist in HD 82943.
Startlingly, perhaps the most likely explanation for the presence of
Lithium-6 today is that it is left over from planetary material which
formed separately and was then absorbed by the parent star.
APOD: 2001 May 4 - Protoplanetary Survivors in Orion
Explanation:
The
Orion Nebula is a nuturing stellar nursery filled with
hot young stars and their natal clouds of gas and dust.
But for planetary
systems, the active star-forming region can present
a hazardous and inhospitable birthplace.
While the formation of dusty
protoplanetary disks seems
common in Orion, these
Hubble Space Telescope close-up images dramatically reveal
the torturous conditions they must face while trying to grow into
full-fledged planetary systems.
In each case,
a central young star is surrounded by a
disk substantially wider than our solar system.
The disks likely contain material in the process of planet formation.
However, withering ultraviolet radiation from one of Orion's
nearby hot stars is rapidly destroying the disks --
ultimately creating the comet-shaped clouds of glowing gas
seen engulfing the protoplanetary systems.
Planet formation must occur
quickly here, if at all.
Researchers estimate
that about 90 percent of Orion's youngest
protoplanetary disks will not survive the next 100,000 years.
APOD: 2001 April 13 - GRB010222: Gamma Ray Burst, X Ray Afterglow
Explanation:
A
fading afterglow from one of the most powerful explosions
in the universe is centered in this
false
color image from the spacebased
Chandra X-ray Observatory.
The cosmic explosion, an enormously bright
gamma-ray
burst (GRB), originated in a galaxy billions
of light-years away and was detected by the
BeppoSAX
satellite on February 22.
GRB010222
was visible for only a few seconds at
gamma-ray energies, but its afterglow
was
followed for days by x-ray, optical, infrared and radio instruments.
These Chandra observations of the GRB's
x-ray glow hours after
the initial explosion suggest an expanding fireball of material
moving at near light speed has hit a wall of relatively dense gas.
While the true nature of gamma-ray bursters remains unknown,
the mounting evidence from
GRB afterglows does indicate that
the cosmic blasts may be hypernovae -- the
death explosions of very massive, short-lived stars
embedded in active star forming regions.
As the hypernova
blasts sweep up dense clouds of material in the
crowded star forming regions they may also trigger more
star formation.
APOD: 2001 March 24 - The UV SMC from UIT
Explanation:
Translated
from the "acronese" the title reads -
The UltraViolet Small Magellanic Cloud
from the Ultraviolet Imaging
Telescope.
FYI, the four
ultraviolet images used in
this mosaic of the nearby irregular galaxy known as
the Small Magellanic Cloud were taken
by the UIT instrument during the Astro-1 and
Astro-2 shuttle missions in 1990 and 1995.
Each separate image field is slightly wider than the apparent size of the
full moon.
These ultraviolet pictures,
shown in false color, must be taken above the Earth's absorbing
atmosphere.
They highlight concentrations of hot, newly formed stars only a few millions
of years old, and reveal the progress of
recent star formation in the SMC.
APOD: 2001 March 21 - Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 2903
Explanation:
NGC 2903 is a
spiral galaxy similar to our own
Milky Way Galaxy.
Similarities include its general size and a
central bar.
One striking difference, however,
is the appearance of mysterious
hot spots in NGC 2903's core.
Upon inspection of the
above image and similar images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, these
hot spots were found to be bright
young globular clusters,
in contrast to the uniformly old
globular clusters
found in our
Milky Way Galaxy.
Further investigation has indicated that current
star formation is most rampant in a 2000
light-year wide
circumnuclear ring
surrounding NGC 2903's center.
Astronomers hypothesize that the gravity of the
central bar expedites star formation in this ring.
NGC 2903 lies about 25 million
light-years away and is visible with a
small telescope towards the constellation of
Leo.
APOD: 2001 March 2 - LkHa101: The Hole in the Doughnut
Explanation:
You'd need a really big cup of
coffee with this doughnut ...
because the hole in the middle is about a billion kilometers
across.
Centered on the Sun, a circle that size would lie
between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
In fact, this doughnut is known to surround a massive newborn star
cataloged as LkHa 101
which lies in the
constellation Perseus.
Imaged
in infrared light, the tantalizing torus-shaped cloud of gas
and dust
is slightly tilted to our view.
The cloud's material may well be the ingredients
for the formation of a
distant
solar system.
A bright source of
ultraviolet light,
the hot young star itself is much fainter in the
infrared and so not visible in this picture.
Still, the star's presence is indicated as its intense stellar wind and
radiation has apparently carved out the doughnut's hole.
This premier close-up of a stellar system in formation was accomplished
by adapting a powerful observational technique
called
interferometry to planet Earth's largest single mirror
telescope, the 10 meter Keck.
APOD: 2001 February 16 - Star Forming Region Hubble X
Explanation:
In nearby galaxy NGC 6822,
this glowing emission nebula complex
surrounds bright, massive, newborn stars.
A mere 4 million years young, these stars condensed
from the galaxy's interstellar gas and dust clouds.
The nebular glow is powered by the bright stars' intense
ultraviolet radiation
while its shape is sculpted by the interaction of stellar
winds and radiation with the immense interstellar clouds themselves.
Cataloged as Hubble-X,
many skygazers find the appearance of this extragalactic
star forming region reminiscent of
the most famous stellar nursery in our own galaxy,
the Orion Nebula.
Hubble-X is
intrinsically much brighter than Orion though,
and at a distance of
1.6 million light-years it is about 1,000 times farther away.
Hubble-X is also about 100 light-years across
compared to 10 light-years
for the Orion Nebula.
Why is it called Hubble-X?
X is the
Roman
numeral 10, this nebula's designation in a catalog
of similar objects for
galaxy NGC 6822.
APOD: 2001 January 24 - NGC 3603: X-Rays From A Starburst Cluster
Explanation:
A mere 20,000 light-years from
the Sun lies the
NGC 3603 star cluster,
a resident of the nearby
Carina
spiral arm
of our Milky
Way galaxy.
Seen here in this recent false-color
x-ray image from the Chandra Observatory,
NGC 3603
is well known to astronomers
as a young cluster in a large
galactic star-forming region.
The image colors were chosen to show the relative x-ray brightness
of the many individual sources present, where
green are faint and red to purple hues are bright sources of x-rays.
The stars in the cluster were formed in a single "burst" of star
formation only one or two million years ago,
so the x-rays are believed to come from the massive young
stars themselves or from their energetic stellar winds.
Since other common galactic
sources
of x-rays such as
supernova remnants and neutron stars
represent final stages in the life of a massive
star, they are unlikely to be present in such a young cluster.
Nearby NGC 3603 is thought to be a convenient
example of the star clusters that populate
distant starburst galaxies.
APOD: 2001 January 12 - NGC 1410/1409: Intergalactic Pipeline
Explanation:
These
two galaxies are
interacting in a surprising way,
connected by a "pipeline"
of obscuring material that runs between them over 20,000 light-years
of intergalactic space.
Silhouetted by starlight,
the dark, dusty ribbon appears
to stretch from NGC 1410 (the galaxy at the left)
and wrap itself around NGC 1409 (at right).
A mere 300 million light-years distant in the constellation
of Taurus, the pair's
recent collision has likely drawn out this relatively
thin lane of material which is only about 500 light-years wide.
Though the Hubble Space Telescope image
dramatically
illustrates
how galaxies
exchange matter when they collide, it also presents challenges
to current pictures of
galaxy evolution.
The titanic
collision has triggered
star formation in NGC 1410 as
evidenced by its blue star forming regions, yet NGC 1409
remains devoid of hot,
young blue
stars even though observations indicate
that material is flowing into it.
Bound by gravity, these
two
galaxies are doomed to future collisions,
merging over time into one.
APOD: 2000 September 24 - M16: Stars from Eagle's Eggs
Explanation:
Newborn stars are forming in the Eagle Nebula.
This image, taken with the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995, shows
evaporating gaseous globules (EGGs)
emerging from pillars of molecular
hydrogen gas and
dust.
The giant pillars are
light years in length
and are so dense that interior gas contracts gravitationally to form stars.
At each pillars' end,
the intense radiation of bright young stars
causes low density material to boil away,
leaving stellar nurseries of dense EGGs exposed.
The
Eagle Nebula, associated with the
open star cluster
M16, lies about 7000
light years away.
APOD: 2000 September 19 - M17: Omega Nebula Star Factory
Explanation:
In the depths of the dark clouds of dust and
molecular gas known as M17, stars continue to form.
Visible in the
above recently released representative-color photograph of
M17
by the New Technology Telescope are
clouds so dark that they appear almost empty of near
infrared light.
The darkness of these
molecular clouds
results from background starlight being absorbed by
thick carbon-based smoke-sized
dust.
As bright massive stars form, they produce intense
and energetic light that slowly
boils away the dark shroud.
M17's unusual
appearance has garnered it such
nicknames as the Omega Nebula, the Horseshoe Nebula,
and the Swan Nebula.
M17,
visible with binoculars towards the constellation of Sagittarius, lies 5000
light-years away and spans 20 light-years across.
APOD: 2000 August 18 - X-Rays From Antennae Galaxies
Explanation:
A bevy of
black
holes and
neutron stars
shine as bright, point-like
sources against bubbles of
million degree gas in this
false-color x-ray image from the
orbiting Chandra Observatory.
The striking picture shows the central regions of two
galaxies, NGC 4038 and NGC 4039, locked in a titanic collision
some 60 million light-years distant in the
constellation Corvus.
In visible
light images, long, luminous, tendril-like structures emanating
from the wreckage lend the pair their
popular moniker, the Antennae Galaxies.
Galactic collisions are now thought to be fairly common, but when
they happen individual stars rarely collide.
Instead gas and dust clouds merge and compress, triggering furious
bursts of massive
star
formation with thousands of resulting supernovae.
The exploding stars litter the scene with
bubbles
of shocked hot gas and
collapsed stellar cores.
Transfixed by this cosmic accident
astronomers watch and are beginning
to
appreciate the collision-driven evolution
of galaxies, not unlike
our own.
APOD: 2000 July 29 - NGC1850: Star Cluster in the LMC
Explanation:
NGC1850 is a large cluster of stars located a mere 166,000 light-years
from Earth in our neighboring galaxy
the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC).
The
colors in this beautiful
Hubble Space
Telescope composite image of the
cluster reveal different
populations of stars.
Yellowish stars are the main cluster stars, sun-like main sequence
hydrogen burners about 50 million years old.
The white stars are massive, hotter, and younger,
about 4 million years old.
Radiating strongly in ultraviolet light,
they represent a loose
cluster
themselves, perhaps within 200 light-years of the main cluster.
Massive stars
which formed in the older main cluster
have long since disappeared,
ending their lives in
spectacular supernova explosions.
Did expanding debris from these supernovae
trigger the formation
of the nearby younger cluster?
Probably so.
In any event, a few million years from now a
similar fate awaits the massive stars of the younger cluster -
burning brightly but briefly before they explode sending new
clouds of stellar debris into space.
APOD: 2000 June 22 - Blue Stragglers In NGC 6397
Explanation:
In our neck of the
Galaxy stars are too
far apart
to be in danger of colliding, but in the dense cores of
globular star clusters star collisions
may be relatively common.
In fact,
researchers have evidence that the row of six
closely spaced blue stars
just below the label in this
Hubble Space Telescope image
were formed when stars directly collided.
Pictured is the central region of
NGC 6397, a
globular cluster
about 6,000 light-years distant, whose
stars all formed at about the same time.
NGC 6397's
massive stars have long since evolved off the main sequence,
exhausting their central supplies of
nuclear fuel.
This should leave the cluster with only old low mass stars; faint red
main sequence stars and brighter blue and
red giants.
However, spectroscopic data show that the indicated stars, descriptively
dubbed blue stragglers, are clearly
main sequence stars
which are too blue and too massive to still be there.
Suggestively the stragglers appear to be two and occasionally three
times as massive as the lower mass cluster stars
otherwise present,
supporting evidence for
their formation from two and even three star collisions.
APOD: 2000 May 6 - The Heart Of Orion
Explanation:
Newborn stars lie at
at the heart
of the
the Orion Nebula,
hidden from view by the dust and gas of the giant Orion
Molecular Cloud number 1
(OMC-1).
Sensitive to invisible
infrared
wavelengths, Hubble's NICMOS camera
can explore the
interior of OMC-1 detecting the infrared radiation from
infant star clusters and
the interstellar dust and atoms energized by their intense starlight.
In this false color picture,
stars and the glowing dust clouds which also scatter the starlight appear
yellowish orange while emission from hydrogen gas is blue.
The dramatic image reveals a wealth of details, including
many filaments and arcs of gas and dust
-- evidence of violent motions stirred-up by the emerging stars.
The bright object near the center is the massive young star "BN"
(named for its discoverers Becklin and Neugebauer).
The pattern of speckles and
ripples surrounding BN and other bright stars are image artifacts.
APOD: 2000 April 21 - M82: Starburst in X-rays
Explanation:
Star formation occurs at a faster pace
in M82
-- a galaxy with about 10 times the rate of massive star birth (and
death) compared to our Milky Way.
Winds from massive stars and blasts from supernova explosions
have created the expanding
cloud of million degree gas filling the above
Chandra X-ray Observatory image of this
remarkable
starburst galaxy.
The false color image even resolves bright spots which are likely
shocked supernova remnants and
X-ray bright
binary stars.
Also observed
as a radio
galaxy and a bright celestial infrared source,
M82's
aspect in optical pictures has led to its popular
moniker, the Cigar Galaxy.
M82's burst of star formation was likely triggered a mere
100 million years ago in the latest of a
series of bouts
with another large galaxy, M81.
APOD: 2000 March 31 - Free Floating Planets In Orion
Explanation:
This false-colour image
of the young Trapezium star cluster in the Orion
Nebula was made with an
infrared camera at wavelengths about
twice as long as visible light.
The infrared data are part of a sensitive survey
of this nearby star forming region in which
astronomers
have identified over 100 extremely low mass
objects -- candidates for
elusive brown dwarf stars.
Brown dwarfs are failed
stars with masses so low (about 8% of the Sun's)
that they can not sustain nuclear hydrogen burning, a sun-like star's main
energy source.
While brown dwarfs are thought to be still massive enough to burn
deuterium for energy,
thirteen of the low mass objects show evidence of
lying below even the deuterium burning limit
(about 1.3% of the
Sun's mass) falling in a range
more commensurate with giant planets.
These drifting, "free-floating planets" are perhaps as little as 8
times as massive as
Jupiter and likely formed along with the cluster stars
a million or so years ago.
They are detectable in the infrared because they
are still hot from formation, but will eventually cool and fade.
If the Trapezium is typical of young
star clusters, then
the survey results suggest that brown dwarfs
and free-floating planets may be fairly common, but there
are not enough to solve the mystery
of dark
matter in the Universe.
APOD: 2000 March 13 - A Panorama of Oddities in Orion A
Explanation:
New stars, fast jets, and shocked gas clouds
all occupy Orion A, a
giant molecular cloud
just south of the
Orion Nebula.
The bright object visible below and slightly left of center of
this recently released picture is the
reflection nebula
NGC 1999.
Wind from NGC 1999's
central star, V380 Orionis, appears to have created the
surrounding billows of red and brown gas.
Several bright young stars illuminate reflecting
dust at the top right of the image.
Jets shoot from dozens of young stars creating glowing
compressed shocked waves known
Herbig-Haro objects.
One such shock is the unusual
Waterfall,
the bright streak on the upper right,
which is a source of unusual
radio waves.
The cone-shaped shock to the Waterfall's
lower right may result from a jet emitted
HH1 and HH2, located 10
light-years away below NGC 1999.
The unusual and energetic oddities that
occur and interact in
star forming regions
are often as complex as they are beautiful.
APOD: 2000 February 19 - Young Suns
Explanation:
The star cataloged as NGC2264 IRS is normally
hidden from the inquiring gaze of optical
telescopes.
It resides in the midst of the
obscuring gas and dust
of a nearby star forming region
popularly known as the Cone Nebula.
Imaged in penetrating infrared light by
the Hubble Space Telescope's
NICMOS instrument,
this young and massive star
was found to be surrounded by six "baby" sun-like stars -
all within less than a tenth of a light-year of their "big brother".
The diffraction spikes and rings surrounding big brother are
image artifacts.
Astronomers believe that the
high speed winds generated by the massive
star compressed nearby material causing the formation of the
smaller stars in a text book example
of triggered star formation.
The young suns appear to lie along an otherwise invisible boundary
where the high speed gas has collided with the wall of a denser
molecular cloud.
NGC2264 IRS also seems to be the source of the outflow which created
the striking
cone shape of the optical nebula.
APOD: 2000 January 7 - NGC 4214: Star Forming Galaxy
Explanation:
Dazzling displays of star formation abound across the face
of galaxy NGC 4214, a mere 13 million light-years away in
the northern constellation
Canes Venatici.
While this 1997
Hubble Space Telescope image shows the numerous faint,
older stars
of NGC 4214, the most eye-catching features
are the galaxy's bright young star clusters surrounded
by fluorescent gas clouds.
Sculpted
into bubbles and filamentary shapes by
energetic explosions and
stellar winds from massive cluster stars,
the clouds fluoresce in the
intense stellar ultraviolet radiation.
The
colorful spectacle of massive young star forming clusters and
distinguished presence of a fainter, older stellar population
indicate that NGC 4214 has experienced
star formation episodes spanning billions of years.
APOD: October 27, 1999 - In the Heart of the Tarantula Nebula
Explanation:
In the heart of monstrous
Tarantula Nebula
lies one of the most unusual star clusters.
Known as
NGC 2070 or R136,
it is home to a great number of hot young stars.
The energetic light from these stars continually ionizes nebula gas,
while their energetic particle wind blows bubbles and defines intricate filaments.
The
above representative-color picture of this great
LMC cluster details
its tumultuous center in gas,
dust and young stars.
The
30 Doradus nebula is one of the largest
star-formation regions known, and has been creating
unusually strong episodes of star formation
every few million years.
In the heart of this heart is a
central knot of stars
that is so dense it was once thought to be a single star.
APOD: October 18, 1999 - NGC 3603: An Active Star Cluster
Explanation:
NGC 3603 is home to a massive star cluster, thick dust pillars,
and a star about to explode.
The central
open cluster contains
about 2000 bright stars, each of which is much brighter
and more massive than
our Sun.
Together,
radiations from
these stars are
energizing and pushing away surrounding material, making
NGC 3603 one of the most interesting
HII regions known.
NGC 3603 is about 20,000 light-years away, and the
region shown is about 20
light-years across.
Possibly most interesting about this recently released, representative-color
picture are the large number of dim stars visible.
These stars are less massive than our Sun, demonstrating
that great numbers of low-mass stars also form in
active starburst regions.
APOD: October 8, 1999 - NGC 1365: Barred Spiral Galaxy
Explanation:
NGC 1365
is a giant
barred spiral galaxy about 200,000 light-years
in diameter and 60 million light-years distant in the southern
constellation Fornax.
These
three recently released images offer views of
this majestic
island universe in visible and infrared light.
In the middle is an optical ground-based image showing NGC 1365's
dramatic spiral arms trailing away from its central
galactic bar.
Superposed colored rectangles define the corresponding
fields of the inset images.
At upper left, a Hubble Space Telescope
near visible light image
shows young blue star clusters and dark dust lanes
located near the center of
NGC 1365.
The bright yellow nucleus likely houses a
massive black hole.
At lower right, the
Hubble infrared view of the galaxy's
center also shows young star clusters as bright blue spots
but additionally reveals infrared-bright spots corresponding
to newborn clusters
still hidden from optical view by dust clouds.
Astronomers believe the gravity field of NGC 1365's bar plays
a crucial role in the galaxy's evolution,
funneling gas and dust into the central
star-forming maelstrom
and ultimately feeding material into its massive
black hole.
APOD: October 1, 1999 - New Stars In 30 Doradus
Explanation:
Compare these
matched Hubble Space Telescope views
(visible-light on top; infrared on bottom) of a region
in the star-forming
30 Doradus Nebula.
Find the numbered
arrows in the infrared image which
identify newborn massive stars.
For example,
arrows 1 and 5 both point to compact clusters of
bright young stars.
Formed within
collapsing gas and dust clouds, the winds and radiation
from these hot stars have cleared away the remaining obscuring material
making the clusters easily apparent in both visible and infrared images.
But still shrouded in dust and readily seen only in the penetrating infrared
view are
newborn stars and star systems
indicated by arrows 2, 3, and 4.
Perhaps even more remarkable are the infrared bright spots indicated
by arrows 6 and 7.
Exactly in a line on opposite sides of the bright cluster at arrow 5,
they may actually be caused by
symmetric jets of material produced
by one of the young cluster stars.
These luminous spots are each about 5 light-years from the
cluster and would
correspond to points at which the
energetic jet material impacts
the surrounding dust clouds.
APOD: September 30, 1999 - Massive Stars Of 30 Doradus
Explanation:
This gorgeous visible-light
Hubble Space Telescope image shows a
young
cluster of massive stars at the center of the
30 Doradus Nebula.
Gas and dust clouds in 30 Doradus, also known as the
Tarantula Nebula,
have been sculpted into elongated shapes by
powerful winds and ultraviolet radiation from these
hot cluster stars.
Insets in the picture represent corresponding views from the
Hubble's infrared camera
where each square measures 15.5 light-years across.
Penetrating the obscuring dust, these infrared images themselves
offer detailed pictures of
star formation within
the nebula's collapsing clouds, revealing
the presence of newborn massive stars.
The 30 Doradus Nebula lies within a neighboring galaxy,
the Large Magellanic Cloud,
located a mere 170,000 light-years away.
APOD: September 24, 1999 - Cometary Globules In Orion
Explanation:
Intense
ultraviolet light from massive, hot stars in
the Orion region has sculpted and
compressed clouds of dust and gas in to
distinctively shaped Cometary Globules.
Seen in this IRAS
infrared image recorded at
a wavelength sensitive to emission from dust, the
elongated globules are easily visible along
with a bright region which corresponds to the
Trapezium star cluster.
Otherwise known as
the Witch Head Nebula,
IC 2118 is the string of globules near the middle right.
Suggestively similar to comets in general appearance only,
Cometary Globules
are interstellar condensations on a vastly
different scale.
These are likely related to star formation episodes in
the Orion
molecular cloud.
Besides those indicated by the arrows,
more comet-shaped clouds or globules are present in this image.
APOD: August 21, 1999 - Galaxies Away
Explanation:
This striking pair of galaxies is far, far away ...
about 350 million light-years
from Earth.
Cataloged
as AM0500-620, the pair is located in the southern
constellation Dorado.
The background elliptical and foreground
spiral galaxy are representative of two of the
three major classes of galaxies which
inhabit our Universe.
Within the disks
of spiral galaxies, like our own
Milky Way,
gas, dust, and young blue star clusters trace out
grand spiral "arms".
The dust lanes
along the arms of this particular
spiral stand out dramatically in this Hubble Space Telescope
image as they obligingly sweep
in front of the background elliptical.
Like the central bulges of spiral galaxies,
elliptical galaxies
tend toward spherical shapes resulting from
more random motions of their stars.
But while spirals produce new stars, star formation in
ellipticals which lack gas and dust seems to have stopped.
How do galaxies evolve with
cosmic time?
Evidence is growing that
graceful galaxy shapes can hide
a violent history.
APOD: July 29, 1999 - Hydrogen Blob N88A in the Small Magellanic Cloud
Explanation:
The bright
blob of hydrogen gas cataloged as N88A is seen at the right.
It measures a mere 3 light years across.
Emerging from the cool, dusty interstellar medium in a
nearby irregular galaxy known as the
Small Magellanic Cloud,
N88A hides hot young stars at its core.
The
false-color Hubble Space Telescope image was recorded
in the characteristic "H-alpha" light
emitted by hydrogen atoms
as they are ionized by the
young star's energetic ultraviolet light and then recombine.
Other regions
of ionized hydrogen
(H II regions) which surround new born stars can be
over a thousand light-years across but
astronomers now recognize that these small ionized hydrogen blobs
contain some of the most massive stars known.
APOD: July 21, 1999 - Galactic Supernova Remnant IC 443
Explanation:
About 8000 years ago, a star in our Galaxy exploded.
Ancient humans might have noticed the
supernova as a temporary star,
but modern humans can see the expanding shell
of gas even today.
In the
above false-color infrared image of
supernova remnant IC 443,
blue denotes expanding gas where
emission is dominated by excited iron atoms.
Of particular interest, though, are the wisps of
IC 443 colored red,
as they are impacting an otherwise normal
molecular cloud.
Here emission from shock-excited molecular
hydrogen is allowing
astronomers to study how fast moving supernova
gas affects star formation in the cloud.
Additionally,
astronomers theorize that the impact accelerates
some particles to velocities near the speed of light.
The horizontal line across the image is not part of the nebula.
APOD: June 11, 1999 - AB Aurigae: How To Make Planets
Explanation:
This enhanced Hubble Space Telescope
image shows in remarkable detail
the inner portion of the disk of
dust and gas surrounding the star AB Aurigae.
Knots of material, visible here for the first time, may well represent
an early stage of a process which could result in the formation
of planets over the next few million years.
AB Aurigae is a young star
(2-4 million years old), about 469 light-years distant.
Its swirling
circumstellar disk is large,
about 30 times the size of
our solar system.
Astronomers believe
planet-making is just beginning in
AB Aurigae's disk because
known disks surrounding younger stars (less than 1 million years old)
do not show such clumpy structure,
while disks of slightly older stars
(aged 8-10 million years) have gaps and
features suggesting
that planets have already been formed.
Why the window pane appearance?
Wide black stripes in the picture are caused by occulting bars used
to block out the overwhelming starlight and the diagonal streaks
are due to diffraction spikes.
APOD: June 4, 1999 - NGC 3603: From Beginning To End
Explanation:
From beginning to end, different stages of a star's life appear in
this exciting Hubble Space Telescope picture of the environs
of galactic emission nebula
NGC 3603.
For the beginning, eye-catching "pillars" of glowing
hydrogen at the right signal
newborn stars emerging
from their dense, gaseous, nurseries.
Less noticeable,
dark clouds
or "Bok globules" at the top
right corner are likely part of a still earlier stage, prior to their
collapse to form stars.
At picture center lies a cluster of bright
hot blue stars whose strong
winds and ultraviolet radiation have cleared away nearby material.
Massive and young, they will soon exhaust their nuclear fuel.
Nearing the end of its life, the bright supergiant
star Sher 25 is
seen above and left of the cluster, surrounded by a glowing ring and flanked
by ejected blobs of gas.
The ring structure is reminiscent of
Supernova 1987a and Sher 25
itself may be only a few thousand years from its
own devastating finale.
But what about planets?
Check out the two
teardrop-shaped objects below the cluster
toward the bottom of the picture.
Although larger, these emission nebulae are similar to suspected
proto-planetary disks (proplyds) encompassing stars in the Orion Nebula.
APOD: May 7, 1999 - Hot Stars in the Southern Milky Way
Explanation:
Hot blue stars, red glowing hydrogen gas, and dark, obscuring dust
clouds are strewn through this dramatic region of
the Milky Way in the southern constellation
of Ara (the Altar).
About 4,000 light-years from Earth, the stars at the left are
young, massive, and energetic.
Their intense
ultraviolet radiation is eating away at the nearby
star forming cloud complex - ionizing the hydrogen gas and producing
the characteristic
red "hydrogen-alpha" glow.
At right, visible within the dark dust nebula,
is small cluster of newborn stars.
This beautiful color picture is a
composite of images made through
blue, green, and hydrogen-alpha filters.
APOD: April 7, 1999 - Denizen of the Tarantula Nebula
Explanation:
The star cluster at lower right,
cataloged as Hodge 301, is a
denizen of
the Tarantula Nebula.
An evocative nebula in the southern sky,
the sprawling cosmic Tarantula is
an energetic star forming region some 168,000 light-years distant
in our neighboring galaxy the
Large Magellanic Cloud.
The stars within Hodge 301 formed together tens of millions of years ago
and as the massive ones quickly exhaust their nuclear fuel they
explode.
In fact, the red giant stars of Hodge 301 are rapidly approaching
this violent final phase of stellar evolution -
known as a supernova.
These supernova blasts send material and
shock waves back into the nebular
gas to create the Tarantula's glowing filaments also visible in
this Hubble Space Telescope Heritage image.
But these spectacular stellar death explosions signal star birth
as well, as the blast waves condense gas and dust to ultimately
form the next generation of stars
inside the Tarantula Nebula.
APOD: April 2, 1999 - Stars of NGC 206
Explanation:
Nestled within the dusty arms of the large
spiral galaxy Andromeda (M31),
the star cluster
NGC 206 is one of the largest
star forming regions known in our local group of galaxies.
The beautiful bright blue stars
of NGC 206 betray its youth -
but close, systematic studies of variable
stars in and
around NGC 206 will also accurately reveal its distance.
Astronomers
are searching for variable stars in NGC 206,
particularly pulsating stars known as
Cepheids and
eclipsing binary star systems.
Distances for these types of stars can be effectively determined by
following the
periodic changes in their brightness and spectra.
About 3 million light-years away,
an accurately known distance to NGC 206 and
thus M31 is
critical to the larger understanding of galaxy formation, galaxy evolution,
and ultimately
the distance scale of the Universe.
APOD: November 3, 1998 - Sextans A: A Seemingly Square Galaxy
Explanation:
What's bothering local galaxy
Sextans A? A small
dwarf irregular galaxy spanning 5 thousand light years across,
Sextans A is
located only 5 million light-years away.
Named for its home constellation of Sextans, the "diamond in the rough"
structure relates to an ancient unknown event.
100 million years ago,
something mysterious started
a new wave of star formation in Sextans A's center.
Massive short-lived stars exploded in
supernovae
that caused more
star formation
and yet more supernovae, ultimately resulting in an
expanding shell.
Today, young blue stars
highlight areas and shell edges high in
current star formation, a shell that from
our perspective
appears roughly square.
In the
above picture, a bright orange star in our own
Milky Way Galaxy
appears superposed in the foreground.
APOD: September 21, 1998 - NGC 281: Cluster, Clouds, and Globules
Explanation:
NGC 281 is a busy workshop of star formation.
Prominent features include a small
open cluster of stars,
a diffuse red-glowing
emission nebula, large lanes of obscuring
gas and
dust, and dense knots
of dust and gas in which stars may still be forming.
The open cluster of stars IC 1590 visible on the
upper right has formed only in the last few million years.
The brightest member of this cluster is actually a
multiple-star system
shining light that helps ionize the nebula's gas,
causing the red glow visible throughout.
The lanes of dust
on the lower right might be the home of future
star formation.
Particularly striking in the
above photograph are the dark
Bok globules
visible against the bright nebula.
Stars are probably forming there right now. The entire
NGC 281 system lies about 10 thousand light years distant.
APOD: July 10, 1998 - Interacting Galaxies
Explanation:
This dramatic image of an
interacting pair of galaxies was made
using the 1.5 meter telescope at the
Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory
near La Serena, Chile.
NGC 1531 is the background galaxy with a bright core just above
center
and NGC 1532 is the
foreground spiral galaxy laced with dust lanes.
The pair is about 70 million light-years away in the southern
constellation
Eridanus.
These
galaxies lie close enough together so that each
feels the influence of the other's gravity.
The gravitational tug-of-war has triggered
star formation in the
foreground spiral as evidenced by the
young, bright blue star clusters
along the edge of the front spiral arm.
Though the spiral galaxy in this pair is viewed nearly edge-on, astronomers
believe the system is similar to the face-on spiral and companion
known as M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy.
APOD: July 1, 1998 - NGC 1808: A Nearby Starburst Galaxy
Explanation:
NGC 1808 is a galaxy in turmoil. A
barred spiral
with marked similarities to our home
Milky Way Galaxy,
NGC 1808 is distinguished by a
peculiar nucleus, an unusually
warped disk, and
strange flows of
hydrogen gas out from the central regions.
Amidst all of this, NGC 1808 is undergoing so
much star formation it has been deemed a
starburst galaxy. In the
above color-enhanced photograph,
regions of active star formation and shown by their blue glow.
Here bright blue stars have recently formed and are
energizing large clouds of surrounding hydrogen gas.
The reddish brown regions indicate dense
interstellar dust.
NGC 1808 is a relatively close 40 million light-years away,
and stretches about 35,000 light-years across.
The peculiar state of NGC 1808 may be caused by the gravity of neighboring galaxy
NGC 1792.
APOD: May 29, 1998 - An Extrasolar Planet?
Explanation:
This infrared Hubble Space Telescope view may contain the first ever
direct image of a planet outside our own solar system.
The picture shows a very
young double star located about 450
light-years away toward
the constellation of Taurus.
Cataloged as TMR-1 (Taurus Molecular Ring star 1),
the binary system is still
embedded in the dust cloud that formed it.
This double star and dust cloud are the brightest grouping in
the picture, glowing strongly at infrared wavelengths.
A filament extends from the binary system toward the lower left and
points toward the spot of light representing the
candidate planet.
Astronomers believe this
planet is a "runaway" object which was
gravitationally ejected, the filament tracing the path to its present
location at about 1500 times
the Earth-Sun distance from the parent star system.
Models suggest that the planet and
binary system are
a mere 300,000 years old, with the
planet having a mass of about 2 to 3 Jupiters.
Future observations to look for the planet's
continued runaway motion
and spectral signatures should be able to confirm
the nature of this object.
While this and other
tantalizing discoveries of
extrasolar planetary objects and
protoplanetary disks
don't seem to offer direct
examples of solar systems
like our own, they do strongly hint
that planet formation is a varied and common process.
APOD: April 23, 1998 - Three Dusty Stars
Explanation:
These separate radio images reveal
three dusty debris disks
surrounding three bright, young, nearby stars
- evidence for
solar systems in formation.
From left to right are the stars
Fomalhaut,
Beta Pictoris,
and Vega,
their positions indicated by star symbols.
The false color maps show the intensity of submillimeter radio emission
from the surrounding dust.
Next to each dust "disk", a vertical bar illustrates the
present size
of our own solar system.
These observations are likely examples of what
our solar system
would have looked like to
distant radio astronomers
when it was only a few hundred million years old!
Astronomers speculate that bright blobs of emission
near Vega and Beta Pictoris may represent dust clouds
around developing giant planets.
The radio images were made using
detectors cooled to
near absolute zero
and the
James Clerk Maxwell Telescope at Mauna Kea Observatory in
Hawaii.
APOD: April 22, 1998 - HR 4796A: A Recipe for Planets
Explanation:
Two hundred and twenty light years from Earth, planets are forming.
Recent observations of the
binary star system HR 4796 have shown that one of the stars is surrounded by a
dusty gaseous disk.
This disk is of the right size, age, and density for
dust pellets to accrete surrounding matter.
A hole in the disk's center indicates that
increasingly larger condensates are colliding and sticking together,
coalescing into
moons and planets.
Pictured above is a false-color image of the system, with the bright star HR 4796A indicated by a cross. The disk measures
about five times the size of
our Solar System, and is seen nearly edge-on.
HR 4796 is in the
southern constellation Centaurus.
APOD: April 11, 1998 - NGC 604: Giant Stellar Nursery
Explanation:
Scattered within
this cavernous nebula, cataloged as NGC 604,
are over 200 newly formed hot, massive, stars.
At 1,500 light-years across, this expansive cloud of interstellar gas
and dust is effectively a giant
stellar nursery located some three million light-years distant in
the spiral galaxy, M33.
The newborn stars irradiate the gas with
energetic ultraviolet light
stripping electrons from atoms and producing a
characteristic
nebular glow.
The
details of the nebula's structure hold
clues to the mysteries of star formation and galaxy evolution.
APOD: March 26, 1998 - Galaxies Away
Explanation:
This striking pair of galaxies is far, far away ...
about 350 million light-years
from Earth.
Cataloged
as AM0500-620, the pair is located in the southern
constellation Dorado.
The background elliptical and foreground
spiral galaxy are representative of two of the
three major classes of galaxies which
inhabit our Universe.
Within the disks
of spiral galaxies, like our own
Milky Way,
gas, dust, and young blue star clusters trace out
grand spiral "arms".
The dust lanes
along the arms of this particular
spiral stand out dramatically in this Hubble Space Telescope
image as they obligingly sweep
in front of the background elliptical.
Like the central bulges of spiral galaxies,
elliptical galaxies
tend toward spherical shapes resulting from
more random motions of their stars.
But while spirals produce new stars, star formation in
ellipticals which lack gas and dust seems to have stopped.
How do galaxies evolve with
cosmic time?
Evidence is growing that
graceful galaxy shapes can hide
a violent history.
APOD: February 25, 1998 - The Solar Neighborhood
Explanation:
You are here. The orange dot in the above false-color drawing represents the
current location of the
Sun among local
gas clouds in the
spiral
Milky Way Galaxy.
These gas clouds are so thin that we
usually see right through them.
Nearly spherical bubbles surround
regions of recent star
formation. The
purple filaments near the Sun are gas shells
resulting from star formation 4 million years ago in the
Scorpius-Centaurus Association,
located to the Sun's lower left. The
Sun has been between spiral arms
moving through relatively low density gas
for the past 5 million years. In contrast, the Sun oscillates in the
Milky Way plane
every 66 million years,
and circles the
Galactic Center
every 250 million years.
APOD: January 22, 1998 - Closer To Beta Pic
Explanation:
What did
our Solar System look like
as the planets were forming?
Since the 1980s, astronomers have been pointing
toward Beta Pictoris,
a young, sun-like star a mere 50 light-years
distant, as a likely example.
Beta Pic is surrounded by
a disk of dust
which we view nearly edge-on.
The dust disk shines by reflected starlight and has been examined with ever
increasing detail to search
for signs of planetary formation.
The trick is to follow the disk
as close in to the star as possible, without
being overwhelmed by the direct starlight.
To make
this Hubble Space Telescope image, a
coronagraph was used to block the
direct starlight and achieve the closest view yet.
The false color picture shows the inner section of the
dusty disk to within nearly 1.5 billion
miles of the star itself, about the scale of the orbit of Uranus.
The obvious warp is
indirect evidence
that a planet now orbits this
young sun,
slightly inclined to the disk.
The planet's gravitational pull would produce the visible distortion.
APOD: December 24, 1997 - 30 Doradus Across the Spectrum
Explanation:
30 Doradus is lit up like a Christmas tree.
Shining in light across the electromagnetic spectrum,
30 Doradus glows because of all the energetic processes that go on there.
A distinctive region visible in a
Milky Way satellite galaxy
called the
Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), 30 Doradus is a hotbed of
star formation,
supernova explosions, and
ionized plasma. The
above image
is a composite of three pictures taken in three different wavelength bands of light.
Red represents
X-ray emission created by
gas as hot as 1 million degrees Kelvin. Green represents emission from
ionized hydrogen gas, and blue represents
ultraviolet
radiation primarily emitted by hot stars.
At the conclusion of this symphony of star formation and
light in a few million years,
astronomers expect that a new
globular cluster will have formed.
APOD: October 22, 1997 - The Antennae Galaxies
Explanation:
A ground-based telescopic view (left) of the collision between the galaxies
NGC4038 and NGC4039
reveals long arcing insect-like "antennae" of luminous matter flung from
the scene of the accident.
Investigators using the Hubble Space Telescope to sift through the
cosmic wreckage near the two galaxy cores
have recently announced the discovery of over a thousand
bright young clusters of stars - the result of a burst of star formation
triggered by the collision.
The green outline shows the area covered by the higher resolution
Hubble image (right).
At the distance of the Antennae galaxies
(about 63 million light-years),
a pixel in this image corresponds to about 15 light-years.
Dust clouds around the two galactic nuclei give them a
dimmed and reddened appearance while the
massive, hot, young stars of the newly formed clusters are blue.
How do colliding galaxies evolve with time?
Determining the ages of star clusters formed in galaxy collisions
can provide significant clues.
The Antennae galaxies are seen in
the southerly constellation Corvus.
APOD: July 30, 1997 - Eagle Castle
Explanation:
What lights up this castle of star formation? The familiar
Eagle Nebula glows much like a
neon sign,
but in many colors at once. The
above
photograph is a composite of three of these glowing gas colors.
In particular the glowing red
Sulfur
gas of the nebula nicely outlines some of the
denser
star forming knots. Energetic light from young massive stars
causes the gas to glow and effectively boils away part of the
dust and gas from its birth pillar.
Many of these stars will
explode after several million years,
returning most of their elements back to the nebula which formed them.
This process is forming an
open cluster of stars known as
M16.
APOD: June 20, 1997 - NGC1850: Star Cluster in the LMC
Explanation:
NGC1850 is a large cluster of stars located a mere 166,000 light-years
from Earth in our neighboring galaxy
the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC).
The colors in
this
beautiful Hubble Space Telescope composite image of the cluster
reveal different populations of stars.
Yellowish stars are the main cluster stars, sun-like main sequence
hydrogen burners about 50 million years old.
The white stars are massive, hotter, and younger,
about 4 million years old.
Radiating strongly in ultraviolet light,
they represent a loose
cluster
themselves, perhaps within 200 light-years of the main cluster.
Massive stars
which formed in the older main cluster
have long since disappeared,
ending their lives in
spectacular supernova explosions.
Did expanding debris from these supernovae
trigger the formation
of the nearby younger cluster?
Probably so.
In any event, a few million years from now a
similar fate awaits the massive stars of the younger cluster -
burning brightly but briefly before they explode sending new
clouds of stellar debris into space.
APOD: June 11, 1997 - Young Suns
Explanation:
The star cataloged as NGC2264 IRS is normally
hidden from the inquiring gaze of
optical telescopes.
It resides in the midst of the
obscuring gas and dust
of a nearby star forming region
popularly known as the Cone Nebula.
Imaged in penetrating infrared light by
the Hubble Space Telescope's newly operational
NICMOS instrument,
this young and massive star
was found to be surrounded by six "baby" sun-like stars -
all within less than a tenth of a light-year of their "big brother".
The diffraction spikes and rings surrounding big brother are
image artifacts.
Astronomers believe that the
high speed winds generated by the massive
star compressed nearby material causing the formation of the
smaller stars in
a text book example of triggered star formation.
The newly created suns appear to lie along an otherwise invisible boundary
where the high speed gas has collided with the wall of a denser
molecular cloud.
NGC2264 IRS also seems to be the source of the outflow which created
the striking
cone shape of the optical nebula.
APOD: December 11, 1996 - Starburst Ring in Galaxy NGC 1317
Explanation: Where do stars form? A typical place
is an area of dense nebular gas common
to arms in spiral galaxies. Sometimes,
however, a burst of star formation can occur with unusual geometry.
Nearby galaxy NGC 1317 shows such an unusual ring of star formation
surrounding its barred nucleus.
In the above image, older stars appear more red and are more evident
in the leftmost photograph in visible light. The rightmost photograph
taken by the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope
is in ultraviolet and highlights
stars which are younger and bluer and shows the starbirth ring.
This unusual ring may be evidence of a gravitational encounter
with another galaxy, causing a density wave
to ripple out from the galaxy's center.
APOD: October 14, 1996 - Bright Stars, Dim Galaxy
Explanation:
These two clusters of bright, newly formed stars surrounded
by a glowing nebula lie 10 million light years away in the dim,
irregular galaxy cataloged as NGC 2366.
The Hubble Space Telescope image shows that the youngest cluster,
the bottom one at about 2 million years old,
is still surrounded by the gas and dust cloud it condensed from, while
powerful stellar winds from the stars
in the older cluster at the top (4-5 million years old),
have begun to clear away its central areas giving the entire nebula
an apparent hook shape.
Compared to the sun, the stars in these clusters
are massive and short lived.
The brightest one, near the tip of the hook, is a rare Luminous Blue Variable
with 30 to 60 times the mass of the sun - similar to the erruptive
Eta Carina variable in our own Milky Way.
Stars this massive
are extremely variable.
A comparison with ground based images indicates that in three
years this star's brightness increased by about 40 times making it currently
the brightest star in this dim galaxy.
Studies of such distant and diverse galaxies yield clues to the relationships
of star formation and galactic evolution.
APOD: August 23, 1996 - NGC 3293: A Bright Young Open Cluster
Explanation:
Hot Blue stars shine brightly in
this beautiful, recently formed galactic or "open" star cluster.
Open cluster NGC
3293 is located in the constellation
Carina,
lies at a distance of about
8000 light years, and has a particularly high abundance of these young
bright stars.
A study of NGC 3293 implies that the blue stars are only about 6
million years old, whereas the cluster's
dimmer, redder stars appear to be about 20
million years old. If true, star formation in this open cluster took at
least 15 million years. Even this amount of
time
is short, however, when
compared with the billions of years stars like our
Sun live, and the
over-ten billion year lifetimes of many
galaxies and our universe. NGC 3293 appears just in front dense dust lane emanating from the
Carina Nebula.
APOD: October 1, 1995 - Central Galactic Star Bursts
Explanation:
The
pictured
core of the
galaxy NGC 253 shows an exceptionally high
rate of star formation. In the center are some of the densest knots of
stars ever found, surrounded by glowing gas and
dust lanes.
Galaxies where
such high star formation rates are seen are called "starburst" galaxies.
The unusual color is a combination of the light emitted from the young,
hot, blue stars and their associated
emission and
reflection
nebulae.