Astronomy Picture of the Day
Posted By admin On February 14, 2011 @ 10:39 pm In Photo Essays | Comments Disabled
Visit the NASA/JPL website to view more Astronomy Pictures of the Day [1]
[2]
The North America Nebula in Infrared
Credit: NASA [3], JPL-Caltech [4], L. Rebull [5] (SSC, Caltech [6]); DSS [7], D. De Martin
Explanation: The North America Nebula can do what most North Americans cannot — form stars. Precisely where in the nebula [8] these stars are forming has been mostly obscured by some of the nebula’s thick dust that is opaque to visible light. However, a new view [9] of theNorth America Nebula [10] in infrared light [11] by the orbiting Spitzer Space Telescope [12] has peered through [13] much of the dust and uncovered thousands of newly formed stars. The new infrared image [14] neatly captures young stars in many stages of formation, from being imbedded in dense knots of gas and dust [15], to being surrounded by disks [16] and emitted jets [17], to being clear [18] of their birth cocoons. The North America Nebula [19] (NGC 7000 [10]) spans about 50 light years [20] and lies about 1,500 light years away toward the constellation [21] of the Swan (Cygnus [22]). Still, of all the stars known in the North America Nebula, which massive stars emit the energetic light that gives the ionized red glow [23] is still debated [24].
[25]
Article printed from Recorder Online: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com
URL to article: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/2011/02/14/astronomy-picture-of-the-day-12/
URLs in this post:
[1] Astronomy Pictures of the Day: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/
[2] Image: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/north_america_spitzer_3000.jpg
[3] NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/
[4] JPL-Caltech: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/
[5] L. Rebull: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/mission/profile/30-Luisa-Rebull
[6] SSC, Caltech: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/
[7] DSS: http://archive.stsci.edu/dss/
[8] the nebula: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD57_9r-u4I
[9] new view: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/3508-ssc2011-03a-Changing-Face-of-the-North-America-Nebula
[10] North America Nebula: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America_Nebula
[11] infrared light: http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/ir_tutorial/what_is_ir.html
[12] Spitzer Space Telescope: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/mission/32-Mission-Overview
[13] peered through: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mV4ecEbV1s#t=2m38s
[14] new infrared image: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011arXiv1102.0573R
[15] knots of gas and dust: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100919.html
[16] disks: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100703.html
[17] jets: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100426.html
[18] clear: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060206.html
[19] North America Nebula: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap000501.html
[20] light years: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html
[21] constellation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constellation
[22] Cygnus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cygnus_%28constellation%29
[23] red glow: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090630.html
[24] debated: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2005A%26A...430..541C
[25] Image: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/north_america_spitzer_670.jpg
Click here to print.