Imagini inedite surprinse de SPITZER si HUBBLE

[pri3st3ss]

Dorian Gray
I Zwicky 18's youthful appearance, resembling that of galaxies typically found only in the early universe, belies its true age. However, the Hubble telescope has found faint, older stars within this galaxy, suggesting that it formed at the same time as most other galaxies.

I Zwicky 18, a dwarf irregular galaxy, is much smaller than our Milky Way Galaxy. The concentrated bluish-white knots embedded in the heart of the galaxy are two major starburst regions where stars are forming at a furious rate. The wispy blue filaments surrounding the central starburst regions are bubbles of gas that have been blown away by stellar winds and supernovae explosions from a previous generation of hot, young stars. This gas is now heated by intense ultraviolet radiation unleashed by a new generation of hot, young stars.

A companion galaxy lies just above and to the left of I Zwicky 18. The companion may be interacting with I Zwicky 18 by gravitationally tugging on the galaxy. The interaction may have triggered the galaxy's recent star formation that is responsible for the youthful appearance. Besides the bluish-white young stars, white-reddish stars also are visible in both I Zwicky 18 and its companion. These stars may be as old as 10 billion years. The reddish extended objects surrounding I Zwicky 18 and its companion are ancient, fully formed galaxies of different shapes that are much farther away.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA



Confessions of a Dying Star  - im 2
Probing a glowing bubble of gas and dust encircling a dying star, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope reveals a wealth of previously unseen structures.
The object, called NGC 2371, is a planetary nebula, the glowing remains of a sun-like star. The remnant star visible at the center of NGC 2371 is the super-hot core of the former red giant, now stripped of its outer layers. Its surface temperature is a scorching 240,000degrees Fahrenheit. NGC 2371 lies in the constellation Gemini.
The Hubble image reveals several remarkable features, most notably the prominent pink clouds lying on opposite sides of the central star. This color indicates that they are relatively cool and dense, compared to the rest of the gas in the nebula.


Timeless Beauty - im 3
Newborn stars peek out from beneath their natal blanket of dust in this dynamic image of the Rho Ophiuchi dark cloud from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Called "Rho Oph" by astronomers, it's one of the closest star-forming regions to our own solar system. Located near the constellations Scorpius and Ophiuchus, the nebula is about 407 light years away from Earth.
Rho Oph is made up of a large main cloud of molecular hydrogen a key molecule allowing new stars to form from cold cosmic gas, with two long streamers trailing off in different directions. Recent studies reveal more than 300 young stellar objects within the large central cloud. Their median age is only 300,000 years, very young compared to some of the universe's oldest stars, which are more than 12 billion years old.



The Air Up There - im 4
This colorful view of airglow layers at Earth's horizon was photographed by the space shuttle Atlantis crew on Feb. 8, 2008, the second day of the STS-122 mission.