drumbo
09-04-06, 02:11 PM
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0609/lmc_spitzer.jpg (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0609/lmc_spitzer_big.jpg) The Large Magellanic Cloud in Infrared
Credit: NASA (http://www.nasa.gov/)/JPL-Caltech (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/)/M. Meixner (http://www-int.stsci.edu/~meixner/) (STScI (http://www.stsci.edu/institute/)) & the SAGE Legacy Team (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=2005AAS...207.6345M)
Explanation: Where does dust collect in galaxies? To help find out, a team of researchers (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=2005AAS...207.6345M) took the most detailed image ever of gas clouds and dust (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030706.html) in the neighboring Large Magellanic Cloud (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060510.html) (LMC) galaxy. The composite image, shown above (http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media/releases/ssc2006-17/ssc2006-17b.shtml), was taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope (http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/about/index.shtml) in infrared light (http://imagers.gsfc.nasa.gov/ems/infrared.html), which highlights the natural glow of the warm materials returned to the interstellar medium (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020210.html) by stars. The above mosaic (http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media/releases/ssc2006-17/ssc2006-17b.shtml) combines 300,000 individual pointings to create a composite 1,000-times sharper than any previous LMC image. Visible are vast (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050306.html) clouds of gas and dust (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_dust), showing in graphic detail that dust prefers regions near young stars (red-tinted bright clouds), scattered unevenly between the stars (green-tinted clouds), and in shells around old stars (small red dots). Also visible are huge cavern (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060226.html)s cleared away by the energetic outflows of massive former stars. The faint blue (false-color) glow across the bottom is the combined light from the old stars in the central bar (http://www-int.stsci.edu/~marel/lmc.html) of the LMC. The LMC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Magellanic_Cloud) is a satellite galaxy (http://www.astro.uu.se/~ns/mwsat.html) to our own Milky Way Galaxy (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000518.html), spans about 70,000 light years (http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html), and lies about 160,000 light years away toward the southern constellation of the Swordfish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swordfish) (Dorado (http://www.astronomical.org/portal/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=33)).
Source (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060904.html)
Credit: NASA (http://www.nasa.gov/)/JPL-Caltech (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/)/M. Meixner (http://www-int.stsci.edu/~meixner/) (STScI (http://www.stsci.edu/institute/)) & the SAGE Legacy Team (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=2005AAS...207.6345M)
Explanation: Where does dust collect in galaxies? To help find out, a team of researchers (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=2005AAS...207.6345M) took the most detailed image ever of gas clouds and dust (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030706.html) in the neighboring Large Magellanic Cloud (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060510.html) (LMC) galaxy. The composite image, shown above (http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media/releases/ssc2006-17/ssc2006-17b.shtml), was taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope (http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/about/index.shtml) in infrared light (http://imagers.gsfc.nasa.gov/ems/infrared.html), which highlights the natural glow of the warm materials returned to the interstellar medium (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020210.html) by stars. The above mosaic (http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media/releases/ssc2006-17/ssc2006-17b.shtml) combines 300,000 individual pointings to create a composite 1,000-times sharper than any previous LMC image. Visible are vast (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050306.html) clouds of gas and dust (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_dust), showing in graphic detail that dust prefers regions near young stars (red-tinted bright clouds), scattered unevenly between the stars (green-tinted clouds), and in shells around old stars (small red dots). Also visible are huge cavern (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060226.html)s cleared away by the energetic outflows of massive former stars. The faint blue (false-color) glow across the bottom is the combined light from the old stars in the central bar (http://www-int.stsci.edu/~marel/lmc.html) of the LMC. The LMC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Magellanic_Cloud) is a satellite galaxy (http://www.astro.uu.se/~ns/mwsat.html) to our own Milky Way Galaxy (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000518.html), spans about 70,000 light years (http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html), and lies about 160,000 light years away toward the southern constellation of the Swordfish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swordfish) (Dorado (http://www.astronomical.org/portal/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=33)).
Source (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060904.html)