Monday, November 27, 2023

Westerhout 5 Star Formation Region | NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope

Westerhout 5 Star Formation Region | NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope


Generations of stars can be seen in this infrared portrait from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. In this wispy star-forming region, called Westerhout 5 (W5), the oldest stars can be seen as blue dots in the centers of the two hollow cavities (other blue dots are background and foreground stars not associated with the region). Younger stars line the rims of the cavities, and some can be seen as dots at the tips of the elephant-trunk-like pillars. The white knotty areas are where the youngest stars are forming.

W5 spans an area of sky equivalent to four full moons and is about 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. The Spitzer picture was taken over a period of 24 hours.

Like other massive star-forming regions, such as Orion and Carina, W5 contains large cavities that were carved out by radiation and winds from the region's most massive stars. According to the theory of triggered star-formation, the carving out of these cavities pushes gas together, causing it to ignite into successive generations of new stars.

This image contains some of the best evidence yet for the triggered star-formation theory. Scientists analyzing the photo have been able to show that the ages of the stars become progressively and systematically younger with distance from the center of the cavities.

This picture was taken with Spitzer's infrared array camera. It is a four-color composite, in which light with a wavelength of 3.6 microns is blue; 4.5-micron light is green; 5.8-micron light is orange; and 8-micron light is red.


Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/L. Allen & X. Koenig (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA)

Release Date: July 21, 2008


#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #StellarNursery #Nebula #Westerhout5 #W5 #Sharpless2199 #LBN667 #SoulNebula #Cassiopeia #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #WISE #SST #SpitzerSpaceTelescope #Infrared #CfA #JPL #Caltech #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Westerhout 5: Cosmic Mountains of Creation | NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope

Westerhout 5: Cosmic Mountains of Creation | NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope


This image from infrared NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveals billowing mountains of dust ablaze with the fires of stellar youth. These are star-forming clouds of cool gas and dust that have been sculpted into pillars by radiation and winds from hot, massive stars.

The Spitzer image shows the eastern edge of a region known as Westerhout 5 (W5), in the Cassiopeia constellation 7,000 light-years away. This region is dominated by a single massive star, whose location outside the pictured area is "pointed out" by the finger-like pillars. The pillars themselves are colossal, together resembling a mountain range. The largest of the pillars observed by Spitzer entombs hundreds of never-before-seen embryonic stars, and the second largest contains dozens.

"We believe that the star clusters lighting up the tips of the pillars are essentially the offspring of the region's single, massive star," said Dr. Lori Allen, lead investigator of the new observations, from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass. "It appears that radiation and winds from the massive star triggered new stars to form."

Spitzer was able to see the stars forming inside the pillars thanks to its infrared vision. Visible-light images of this same region show dark towers outlined by halos of light. The stars inside are cloaked by walls of dust. However, infrared light coming from these stars can escape through the dust, providing astronomers with a new view.

"With Spitzer, we can not only see the stars in the pillars, but we can estimate their age and study how they formed," said Dr. Joseph Hora, a co-investigator, also from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

The W5 region is referred to as high-mass star-forming regions. They start out as thick and turbulent clouds of gas and dust that later give birth to families of stars, that can be 10 times more massive than the sun. Radiation and winds from the massive stars subsequently blast the cloudy material outward, so that only the densest pillar-shaped clumps of material remain. The process is akin to the formation of desert mesas, which are made up of dense rock that resisted water and wind erosion.

According to theories of triggered star formation, the pillars eventually become dense enough to spur the birth of a second generation of stars. Those stars, in turn, might also trigger successive generations. Astronomers do not know if the sun, that formed about five billion years ago, was originally a member of this type of extended stellar family.

Allen and her colleagues believe they have found evidence for triggered star formation in the new Spitzer image. Though it is possible the clusters of stars in the pillars are siblings of the single massive star, the astronomers say the stars are more likely its children.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., managed the Spitzer mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. Science operations were conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. JPL is a division of Caltech. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., built Spitzer's infrared array camera that took these observations. The instrument's principal investigator was Dr. Giovanni Fazio of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.


Image Credit: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

Release Date: Nov. 9th, 2005


#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #StellarNursery #Nebula #Westerhout5 #W5 #Sharpless2199 #LBN667 #SoulNebula #Cassiopeia #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #WISE #SST #SpitzerSpaceTelescope #Infrared #CfA #JPL #Caltech #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

NASA's Chandra Observatory Catches Spider Pulsars Destroying Nearby Stars

NASA's Chandra Observatory Catches Spider Pulsars Destroying Nearby Stars

A horde of dead stars known as “spider pulsars” are obliterating companion stars within their reach. Data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory of the globular cluster Omega Centauri are helping astronomers understand how these spider pulsars prey on nearby stars.

A pulsar is the spinning dense core that remains after a massive star collapses into itself. Rapidly rotating neutron stars can produce beams of radiation. Like a rotating lighthouse beam, the radiation can be observed as a powerful, pulsing source of radiation, or pulsar. There are pulsars that spin around dozens to hundreds of times per second, and these are known as millisecond pulsars.

Spider pulsars are a special class of millisecond pulsars, and get their name for the damage they inflict on small companion stars in orbit around them. Through winds of energetic particles streaming from their surfaces, the spider pulsars methodically strip the companion stars of their outer layers.

Astronomers recently discovered 18 millisecond pulsars in Omega Centauri—located about 17,700 light-years from Earth—using radio telescopes. A pair of astronomers from the University of Alberta in Canada then looked at Chandra data of Omega Centauri to see if how many of the millisecond pulsars give off X-rays.

They found 11 millisecond pulsars emitting X-rays, and five of those were spider pulsars concentrated near the center of Omega Centauri. The researchers next combined the data of Omega Centauri with Chandra observations of 26 spider pulsars in 12 other globular clusters.

Spider pulsars are typically separated from their companions by only about one to 14 times the distance between the Earth and Moon. This close proximity—cosmically speaking—causes the energetic particles from the pulsars to be particularly damaging to their companion stars.

Chandra's sharp X-ray vision is crucial for studying millisecond pulsars in globular clusters because they often contain large numbers of X-ray sources in a small part of the sky, making it difficult to distinguish sources from each other.


Video Credit: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Duration: 2 minutes, 47 seconds

Release Date: Nov. 27, 2023


#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Stars #GlobularCluster #OmegaCentauri #NeutronStars #Pulsars #SpidarPulsars #Centaurus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #NASAChandra #ChandraObservatory #Xray #MSFC #SpaceTelescope #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA's "Espacio a Tierra" | Entrega directa: 17 de noviembre de 2023

NASA's "Espacio a Tierra" | Entrega directa: 17 de noviembre de 2023

Espacio a Tierra, la versión en español de las cápsulas Space to Ground de la NASA, te informa semanalmente de lo que está sucediendo en la Estación Espacial Internacional. 

Ciencia de la NASA: https://ciencia.nasa.gov

Para obtener más información sobre la ciencia de la NASA, suscríbete al boletín semanal: https://www.nasa.gov/suscribete

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Duration: 2 minutes, 49 seconds

Release Date: Nov. 27, 2023


#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #ISS #Earth #NASAenespañol #español #HumanSpaceflight #Astronauts #LoralOHara #JasminMoghbeli #UnitedStates #AndreasMogensen #ESA #Europe #SatoshiFurukawa #JAXA #Japan #Cosmonauts #OlegKononenko #NikolaiChub #KonstantinBorisov #Russia #Роскосмос #Expedition70 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Un tour de la estación espacial con el astronauta Frank Rubio | NASA en Español

Un tour de la estación espacial con el astronauta Frank Rubio | NASA en Español

El astronauta de la NASA Frank Rubio, quien acaba de cumplir una misión récord, es el presentador de un video con el primer tour narrado en español del hogar de la humanidad en el espacio: la Estación Espacial Internacional. El recorrido por la estación espacial va de un extremo a otro del complejo orbital, comenzando en el módulo Harmony e incluyendo la cúpula, la ventana al mundo de la estación espacial. Rubio, que participó como ingeniero de vuelo en las Expediciones 68 y 69, pasó un total de 371 días en el espacio durante su primera misión.


Astronaut Frank Rubio’s Official NASA Biography:

https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/astronauts/frank-rubio/


Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Duration: 14 minutes

Release Date: Nov. 27, 2023


#NASA #Space #Earth #NASAenespañol #español #Science #Astronauts #Astronaut #FrankRubio #LongDurationMission #HumanSpaceflight #UAE #Russia #Россия #Роскосмос #MicrogravityResearch #SpaceResearch #SpaceLaboratory #InternationalCooperation #UnitedStates #Expedition69 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Distant Galaxy Cluster Abell 3192: Plus One More? | Hubble Space Telescope

Distant Galaxy Cluster Abell 3192: Plus One More? | Hubble Space Telescope

This Hubble image features a massive cluster of brightly glowing galaxies, first identified as Abell 3192. Like all galaxy clusters, this one is suffused with hot gas that emits powerful X-rays, and it is enveloped in a halo of invisible dark matter. All this unseen material—not to mention the many galaxies visible in this image—comprises such a huge amount of mass that the galaxy cluster noticeably curves spacetime around it, making it into a gravitational lens. Smaller galaxies behind the cluster appear distorted into long, warped arcs around the cluster’s edges.

The galaxy cluster is located in the constellation Eridanus, but the question of its distance from Earth is a more complicated one. Abell 3192 was originally documented in the 1989 update of the Abell catalogue, a catalogue of galaxy clusters that was first published in 1958. At that time, Abell 3192 was thought to comprise a single cluster of galaxies, concentrated at a single distance. However, further research revealed something surprising: the cluster’s mass seemed to be densest at two distinct points rather than one. 

It was subsequently shown that the original Abell cluster actually comprised two independent galaxy clusters—a foreground group around 2.3 billion light-years from Earth, and a further group at the greater distance of about 5.4 billion light-years from our planet. The more distant galaxy cluster, included in the Massive Cluster Survey as MCS J0358.8-2955, is central in this image. The two galaxy groups are thought to have masses equivalent to around 30 trillion and 120 trillion times the mass of the Sun, respectively. These two largest galaxies at the center of this image are part of MCS J0358.8-2955; the smaller galaxies you see here, however, are a mixture of the two groups within Abell 3192.

Image Description: A cluster of galaxies, concentrated around what appear to be two large elliptical galaxies. The rest of the black background is covered in smaller galaxies of all shapes and sizes. In the top left and bottom right, beside the two large galaxies, some galaxies appear notably distorted into curves by gravity.

Science paper by V. Hamilton-Morris et al.: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2041-8205/748/2/L23


Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, G. Smith, H. Ebeling, D. Coe

Release Date: Nov. 27, 2023


#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Hubble #Galaxies #GalaxyClusters #Abell3192 #ABellCluster #MCSJ035882955 #Eridanus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Sunday, November 26, 2023

Asteroid Bennu’s Surprises | NASA's OSIRIS-REx Mission

Asteroid Bennu’s Surprises | NASA's OSIRIS-REx Mission

When it comes to space exploration, expect the unexpected. As NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft approached asteroid Bennu, scientists were surprised to find a loosely packed rubble pile. We have a closer look at Bennu and the surprises in store.

Find more information about NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission at:


University of Arizona's OSIRIS-REx Mission Page: http://www.asteroidmission.org

Video Credit: NASA

Created by: James Tralie

Producers:  James Tralie, Dan Gallagher, Lauren Ward, Katy Mersmann

Scientists: Dante Lauretta, Dani DellaGiustina, Mike Moreau

Engineers: Anjani Polit, Ryan Olds, Sandy Freund

Operations: Kenny Getzandanner, David Lorenz

Videographers: Rob Andreoli, John Philyaw, John Caldwell

Animation: Walt Feimer, Michael Lentz, Jonathan North, Adriana Manrique Gutierrez, Krystofer Kim, James Tralie, Bailee DesRocher, Jacquelyn DeMink, Lisa Poje

Sound Design: James Tralie

Data Visualization: Kel Elkins

NASA+ Executive Producer: Rebecca Sirmons

Duration: 23 minutes

Release Date: Nov. 16, 2023


#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #OSIRISRExMission #OSIRISRExSpacecraft #Asteroids #AstreroidBennu #ToBennuAndBack #SampleReturn #SpaceTechnology #CSA #Canada #CNES #France #JSC #GSFC #UArizona #LockheedMartin #JSC #UnitedStates #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Comet 67P: A Dust Jet | Europe's Rosetta Mission

Comet 67P: A Dust Jet Europe's Rosetta Mission


Where do comet tails come from? There are no obvious places on the nuclei of comets where jets can create comet tails. However, in 2016, the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft imaged a jet emerging from Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, and it flew right through it. This picture shows a bright plume emerging from a small circular dip bounded on one side by a 10-meter high wall. Analyses of Rosetta data show that the jet was composed of dust and water-ice. The rugged but otherwise unremarkable terrain indicates that something likely happened far under the porous surface to create the plume. This image was taken about two months before Rosetta's mission ended with a controlled impact onto Comet 67P's surface.


Image Credit: ESA, Rosetta, MPS, OSIRIS; UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

Release Date: Nov. 26, 2023

#NASA #ESA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Comet #Comet67P #DustJet #WaterIce #RosettaSpacecraft #PhilaeLander #OSIRIS #ChuryumovGerasimenko #DLR #Germany #Deutschland #Europe #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #STEM #Education #APoD

Galactic Neighbors Messier 60 & NGC 4647 (Arp 116) | Hubble

Galactic Neighbors Messier 60 & NGC 4647 (Arp 116) | Hubble

Arp 116 is composed of a giant elliptical galaxy known as Messier 60, and a much smaller spiral galaxy, NGC 4647.

Astronomers have long tried to determine whether these two galaxies are actually interacting. Although they overlap as seen from Earth, there is no evidence of new star formation, which would be one of the clearest signs that the two galaxies are indeed interacting. However, recent studies of very detailed Hubble images suggest the onset of some tidal interaction between the two.


Technical Details

Optics: Schulman 32-inch RCOS Telescope

Camera: SBIG STX16803


The 0.81 m (32 in) Schulman Telescope is a Ritchey-Chrétien reflector built by RC Optical Systems and installed in 2010. It is operated by the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter and is Arizona's largest dedicated public observatory. The Schulman Telescope was designed from inception for remote control over the Internet by amateur and professional astrophotographers worldwide. It is currently the world's largest telescope dedicated for this purpose.


Image Credit & Copyright: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona

Caption Acknowledgements: UA/NASA/ESA

Release Date: Dec. 1, 2011


#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #Galaxy #Messier60 #M60 #EllipticalGalaxy #NGC4647 #SpiralGalaxy #Arp116 #Virgo #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #UA #MountLemmonObservatory #SchulmanTelescope #Astrophotographer #AdamBlock #Arizona #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Saturday, November 25, 2023

Nebula Cederblad 6 in Cassiopeia: Wide View | Kitt Peak National Observatory

Nebula Cederblad 6 in Cassiopeia: Wide View | Kitt Peak National Observatory


Cederblad 6 is an emission nebula located inside the Milky Way, around 2,800 light years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. It is also catalogued as Sh2-171 in the Sharpless Catalogue 1. 

This image was obtained with the wide-field view of the Mosaic camera on the KPNO 0.9m-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. NGC 896 is part of a large, diffuse nebula. Star formation inside NGC 896 energizes the gas. However, most of the star formation is obscured by dark dust lanes that stretch across the nebula. The image was generated with observations in Hydrogen alpha (red), Oxygen [OIII] (green) and Sulfur [SII] (blue) filters. In this image, North is up, East is to the left.


Credit: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage)

Release Date: May 6, 2014


#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #Cederblad6 #NGC7822 #Sh2171 #EmissionNebula #NGC896 #Cassiopeia #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #CTIO #Telescope #NOIRLab #AURA #NSF #MayallTelescope #KPNO #Arizona #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Nebula Cederblad 6 in Cassiopeia | Schulman Telescope

Nebula Cederblad 6 in Cassiopeia | Schulman Telescope

Cederblad 6 is an emission nebula located inside the Milky Way, around 2,800 light years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. It is also catalogued as Sh2-171 in the Sharpless Catalogue 1. 

Technical Details

Optics: Schulman 32-inch RCOS Telescope

Camera: SBIG STX16803

The 0.81 m (32 in) Schulman Telescope is a Ritchey-Chrétien reflector built by RC Optical Systems and installed in 2010. It is operated by the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter and is Arizona's largest dedicated public observatory. The Schulman Telescope was designed from inception for remote control over the Internet by amateur and professional astrophotographers worldwide. It is currently the world's largest telescope dedicated for this purpose.


Image Credit & Copyright: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona

Caption Acknowledgements: UA/Wikipedia

Image Date: Nov. 1, 2014


#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #Cederblad6 #NGC7822 #Sh2171 #EmissionNebula #NGC896 #Cassiopeia #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #UA #MountLemmonObservatory #SchulmanTelescope #Astrophotographer #AdamBlock #Arizona #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

The Gum Nebula in The Milky Way Galaxy | European Southern Observatory

The Gum Nebula in The Milky Way Galaxy | European Southern Observatory


The nearby Gum Nebula (Gum 12) seen against the stars of the Milky Way galaxy. This translucent nebula is named for Australian astronomer Colin Stanley Gum (1924-1960). The Gum Nebula is an emission nebula that extends across 36° in the southern constellations Vela and Puppis. It is located approximately 1,500 light years from the Earth. Hard to distinguish, it was widely believed to be the greatly expanded (and still expanding) remains of a supernova that took place about a million years ago. 


Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Caption Acknowledgements: ESO/Wikipedia

Release Date: Dec. 3, 2009


#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Nebulae #Gum12 #Nebula #Gum12Nebula #EmissionNebula #Puppis #Vela #Constellations #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

Artemis II Astronauts Check Out Flight Hardware | This Week @NASA

Artemis II Astronauts Check Out Flight Hardware | This Week @NASA

Week of November 24, 2023: Artemis II astronauts check out flight hardware, a mission that will map millions of galaxies, and studying disturbances in the Earth's atmosphere . . . a few of the stories to tell you about —This Week at NASA!

Artemis II will launch no earlier than December 2024.

Learn more about the Artemis II Mission:

https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-ii


Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Video Producer: Andre Valentine

Video Editor: Andre Valentine

Narrator: Emanuel Cooper

Duration: 2 minutes, 38 seconds

Release Date: Nov. 25, 2023


#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #SPHEREXSpaceTelescope #PACEMission #Earth #Moon #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisII #OrionSpacecraft #EuropeanServiceModule #ESM #Astronauts #HumanSpaceflight #KSC #Florida #UnitedStates #Europe #ESA #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Friday, November 24, 2023

Orion Nebula: Giant Supersonic Gas "Bullets" | International Gemini Observatory

Orion Nebula: Giant Supersonic Gas "Bullets" | International Gemini Observatory



These images show Orion "bullets" as blue features and represent the light emitted by hot iron (Fe) gas. The light from the wakes, shown in orange, is from excited hydrogen gas. These images bring into focus a remarkably detailed view of supersonic “bullets” of gas and the wakes created as they pierce through clouds of molecular hydrogen in the famous Orion Nebula. 

The bullets are speeding outward from the cloud at up to 400 kilometers (250 miles) per secondmore than a thousand times faster than the speed of sound. The name “bullet” is somewhat misleading since these objects are made of gas and truly gigantic. The typical size of one of the bullet’s tips is about ten times the size of Pluto’s orbit around the Sun. The wakes shown in the image are about a fifth of a light-year long. Clouds of iron atoms at the tip of each bullet glow brightly (blue in this image) as they are shock-heated by friction to around 5000°C (9,000°F). 

Molecular hydrogen, making up the bulk of both the bullets and the surrounding gas cloud, is destroyed at the tips by the violent collisions between the high-speed bullets and the surrounding cloud. However, on the trailing edges of the bullets the hydrogen molecules are not destroyed, but instead are heated to about 2000°C (4000°F). As the bullets plow through the clouds they leave behind distinctive tubular wakes (colored orange in this image). These wakes shine like bullet tracers due to the heated molecular hydrogen gas. The bullets are relatively young, with their ages estimated to be less than a thousand years since ejection.

These composite images at infrared wavelengths were obtained using the Gemini North laser guide star system in conjunction with the ALTAIR adaptive optics system and the NIRI near-infrared imager. The images were made possible with laser guide star adaptive optics technology that corrects in real-time for image distortions caused by the Earth’s atmosphere.

Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

Release Dates: March 22, 2007 (Image 1), Jan. 8, 2013 (Image 2)


#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StarFormation #OrionNebula #Messier42 #M42 #GasBullets #GaseousIron #MolecularHydrogen #Orion #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #InternationalGeminiObservatory #IGO #Infrared #NOIRLab #NSF #AURA #STEM #Education

The Vela Supernova Remnant | European Southern Observatory

The Vela Supernova Remnant | European Southern Observatory

This image shows the remnants of a supernova explosion. It appears as a wispy structure of pink and orange clouds. These clouds cover almost the entirety of the image with many of them appearing as filaments, long and thin in shape. Throughout the image, there are also many stars, shining with white, orange, and blue light. There are stars much brighter and larger than others.

What is left over after a massive star reaches the end of its life? This image shows a small but very intricate portion of the Vela supernova remnant, the violent and yet beautiful aftermath of an explosive stellar death.

This dramatic scene played out around 11,000 years ago when a massive star in the constellation Vela went supernova. During this violent event, the star would have shined so brightly that it could be seen during the day.

This detailed and stunning view of the gaseous filaments in the remnant and the bright blue stars in the foreground were captured using the 286-million-pixel OmegaCAM at the VLT Survey Telescope, hosted at the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory. OmegaCAM can take images through several filters that each let the telescope observe the light emitted in a distinct color. To capture this image, four filters have been used, represented here by a combination of magenta, blue, green and red.


Credit: ESO/VPHAS+ team

Acknowledgement: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit

Release Date: Nov. 20, 2023


#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Nebulae #Nebula #SupernovaRemnant #VelaSupernovaRemnant #Vela #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #VISTASurveyTelescope #OmegaCAM #ParanalObservatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

"Grand Design" Spiral Galaxy NGC 5364 | Victor Blanco Telescope

"Grand Design" Spiral Galaxy NGC 5364 | Victor Blanco Telescope

With its swirling arms and luminous core, NGC 5364 is unmistakably a spiral galaxy, lying in the constellation Virgo. However, it is not just any spiral galaxy imaged by the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the 4-meter Víctor M. Blanco Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Program of the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab. 
Distance: 50 million light years

This eye-catching stellar body is classified as a grand design spiral galaxy. Grand design spiral galaxies are characterized by prominent, well-defined arms that circle outwards from a distinct core. Only ten percent of spiral galaxies are given this descriptive name and they are considered the archetype of spiral galaxies owing to their ‘perfect’ structure. 

Nevertheless, NGC 5364 is not as perfect as it may appear. Compared to other grand design spirals, its arms are actually amorphous and asymmetrical. This distortion is thought to be due to interactions with the nearby lenticular galaxy NGC 5363 that can be seen in this image as a fuzzy smear below NGC 5364. Despite its significantly smaller size, the close proximity of this galaxy to NGC 5364 results in a mutual tugging. This moves around the stars and gas within NGC 5364’s arms and warps the overall shape of the galaxy.


Image Credit: Dark Energy Survey, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), FNAL, DECam, CTIO, NOIRLab, NSF, AURA

Image Processing: R. Colombari and M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab)

Release Date: Nov. 22, 2023


#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #Galaxy #NGC5364 #SpiralGalaxy #NGC5363 #SpiralGalaxy #Virgo #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #VictorBlancoTelescope #CerroTololoObservatory #NOIRLab #AURA #NSF #DOE #CTIO #CerroTololo #Chile #SouthAmerica #UnitedStates #STEM #Education