From Yahoo News and The Lookout:
Fri May 6, 11:24 am ET
‘Psychedelic’ photo of a stellar nursery
By Liz Goodwin
Ever wonder what a star "nursery" looks like?
Two Argentine astronomers using a powerful Gemini South telescope in Chile produced this dramatic and colorful image that shows newly born stars in the beautiful Lagoon nebula, located in the Sagittarius constellation in the southern Milky Way.
The Gemini Observatory describes the image as a "psychedelic flashback" because the Lagoon nebula's photons had to travel a stunning 5,000 lightyears to reach the astronomers' telescope.
With an amateur telescope, the Lagoon nebula just looks like a pretty, slightly pink glowing patch. Contrast that to the above picture, which is a composite of images taken by two "narrow-band optical filters sensitive to hydrogen (red) and ionized sulfur (green) emission and another that transmits far red light (blue)." The merged images highlight the dramatic beauty of newly born stars, which you can see embedded in the thick clouds.
The astronomers are studying Herbig-Haro objects, which form when young, growing stars emit lots of fast-moving gas.
(Image: Julia I. Arias and Rodolfo H. Barbá Departamento de Física, Universidad de La Serena, and ICATE-CONICET)
Fri May 6, 11:24 am ET
‘Psychedelic’ photo of a stellar nursery
By Liz Goodwin
Ever wonder what a star "nursery" looks like?
Two Argentine astronomers using a powerful Gemini South telescope in Chile produced this dramatic and colorful image that shows newly born stars in the beautiful Lagoon nebula, located in the Sagittarius constellation in the southern Milky Way.
The Gemini Observatory describes the image as a "psychedelic flashback" because the Lagoon nebula's photons had to travel a stunning 5,000 lightyears to reach the astronomers' telescope.
With an amateur telescope, the Lagoon nebula just looks like a pretty, slightly pink glowing patch. Contrast that to the above picture, which is a composite of images taken by two "narrow-band optical filters sensitive to hydrogen (red) and ionized sulfur (green) emission and another that transmits far red light (blue)." The merged images highlight the dramatic beauty of newly born stars, which you can see embedded in the thick clouds.
The astronomers are studying Herbig-Haro objects, which form when young, growing stars emit lots of fast-moving gas.
(Image: Julia I. Arias and Rodolfo H. Barbá Departamento de Física, Universidad de La Serena, and ICATE-CONICET)
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