Sagittarius Triplet June 14, 2006
Posted by jtintle in APoD, Deep Space, People, Sagittarius A, Space Fotos, Website.comments closed
Explanation:
These three bright nebulae are often featured in telescopic tours of the constellation Sagittarius and the crowded starfields of the central Milky Way. In fact, 18th century cosmic tourist Charles Messier cataloged two of them; M8, the nebula below and right of center, and colorful M20 at the upper right. The third, NGC 6559, is left of M8, separated from the the larger nebula by a dark dust lane. All three are stellar nurseries about five thousand light-years or so distant. The expansive M8, over a hundred light-years across, is also known as the Lagoon Nebula while M20's popular moniker is the Trifid. This stunning digital view is actually a collaborative composite recorded by 2 cameras and 2 telescopes about 2 thousand miles apart. The deep, wide image field was captured under dark Arizona skies. Both M8 and M20 were recorded in more detail from an observatory in Pennsylvania. Glowing hydrogen gas creates the dominant red color of the emission nebulae, with contrasting blue hues, most striking in the Trifid, due to dust reflected starlight.
Shelter In Place October 17, 2005
Posted by jtintle in Spitzer Space Telescope (SST), Chandra X-ray Observatory, Deep Space, HEAPOW, Hubble Telescope, Illustration, Milky Way, Sagittarius A, Space Fotos.comments closed
Credit: NASA/CXC/MIT/F.K.Baganoff et al.; Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss
Space, Fotos, Hubble+Telescope, Deep+Space, Chandra+X-ray+Observatory, HEAPOW, Milky+Way, Spitzer+Space+Telescope, Sagittarius+A, Illustration
Stars Are Born Around the Milky Way October 15, 2005
Posted by jtintle in Chandra X-ray Observatory, Deep Space, Milky Way, Sagittarius A, Space Fotos.comments closed
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/MIT/F.K.Baganoff et al.; Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss | |||||||
JPEG (137.3 kb) | Tiff (2.4 MB) | PS (2.5 MB) |
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Fast Facts for Sagittarius A*: | |
Credit | X-ray: NASA/CXC/MIT/F.K.Baganoff et al.; Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss |
Scale | Left panel is 5.6 arcmin across. |
Category | Black Holes, Milky Way Galaxy |
Coordinates (J2000) | RA 17h 45m 40s | Dec -29° 00′ 28.00 |
Constellation | Sagittarius |
Observation Dates | 11 pointings from September 21, 1999 through June 04, 2002 |
Observation Time | 164 hours |
Obs. IDs | 242, 1561, 2943, 2951-2954, 3392, 3393, 3663, 3665 |
Color Code | X-ray (Energy): Red (2-3.3 keV), Green (3.3-4.7 keV), Blue (4.7-8 keV) |
Instrument | ACIS |
References | S. Nayakshin and R. Sunyaev, 2005, MNRAS, in press. |
Distance Estimate | About 26,000 light years |
Release Date | October 13, 2005 |
Technorati Tags: Space+Fotos, Deep+Space, Chandra+X-ray, Milky+Way, Sagittarius