Spitzer Digs Up Hidden Stars in a Dark Molecular Cloud

Spitzer_sig07-005_1024

spitzer_sig07-005 April 17th, 2007

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Bourke (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA)

Two rambunctious young stars are destroying their natal dust cloud with powerful jets of radiation, in an infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The stars are located approximately 600 light-years away in a cosmic cloud called BHR 71.

In visible light (left panel), BHR 71 is just a large black structure. The burst of yellow light toward the bottom of the cloud is the only indication that stars might be forming inside.

In infrared light (center panel), the baby stars are shown as the bright yellow smudges toward the center. Both of these yellow spots have wisps of green shooting out of them. The green wisps reveal the beginning of a jet. Like a rainbow, the jet begins as green, then transitions to orange, and red toward the end.

The combined visible-light and infrared composite (right) shows that a young star's powerful jet is responsible for the rupture at the bottom of the dense cloud in the visible-light image. Astronomers know this because burst of light in the visible-light image overlaps exactly with a jet spouting-out of the left star, in the infrared image.

The jets' changing colors reveals a cooling effect, and may suggest that the young stars are spouting out radiation in regular bursts. The green tints at the beginning of the jet reveal really hot hydrogen gas, the orange shows warm gas, and the reddish wisps at the end represent the coolest gas.

The fact that gas toward the beginning of the jet is hotter than gas near the middle suggests that the stars must give off regular bursts of energy -- and the material closest to the star is being heated by shockwaves from a recent stellar outburst. Meanwhile, the tints of orange reveal gas that is currently being heated by shockwaves from a previous stellar outburst. By the time these shockwaves reach the end of the jet, they have slowed down so significantly that the gas is only heated a little, and looks red.

The combination of views also brings out some striking details that evaded visible-light detection. For example, the yellow dots scattered throughout the image are actually young stars forming inside BHR 71. Spitzer also uncovered another young star with jets, located to the right of the powerful jet seen in the visible-light image.

Spitzer can see details that visible-light telescopes don't, because its infrared instruments are sensitive to "heat."

The infrared image is made up of data from Spitzer's infrared array camera. Blue shows infrared light at 3.6 microns, green is light at 4.5 microns, and red is light at 8.0 microns.

Provider: Spitzer Space Telescope

Image Source: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/2140-sig07-005-Spitzer-Digs-Up-Hidden-Stars-in-a-Dark-Molecular-Cloud

Curator: Spitzer Space Telescope, Pasadena, CA, USA

Image Use Policy: Public Domain

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Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
BHR 71
Subject - Milky Way
Star > Evolutionary Stage > Protostar
Star > Evolutionary Stage > Young Stellar Object
Star > Circumstellar Material > Outflow
Nebula > Type > Star Formation
Nebula > Type > Jet
Nebula > Appearance > Dark > Molecular Cloud

Distance

Universescale1
600 light years
Spitzer_sig07-005_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 12h 1m 41.9s
DEC = -65° 8’ 45.3”
Orientation
North is 0.2° CW
Field of View
6.7 x 6.7 arcminutes
Constellation
Musca

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue VLT Optical (Mid-IR) 3.6 µm
Green Spitzer (IRAC) Infrared (B-band) 4.5 µm
Multiple image collage
Spectrum_base
Blue
Green
Red
Spitzer_sig07-005_1280
×
ID
sig07-005
Subject Category
B.3.1.1   B.3.1.2   B.3.7.3   B.4.1.2   B.4.1.5   B.4.2.3.1  
Subject Name
BHR 71
Credits
NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Bourke (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA)
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Distance taken from Fast Facts.
Facility
VLT, Spitzer
Instrument
-, IRAC
Color Assignment
Blue, Green, Red
Band
Optical, Infrared
Bandpass
Mid-IR, B-band, V-band, R-band
Central Wavelength
3600, 4500, 8000
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
M
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
180.42473480540394, -65.145930076961946
Reference Dimension
1021, 1024
Reference Pixel
510.5, 512
Scale
-0.00010910413706772863, 0.00010910413706772863
Rotation
-0.199862485091
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Position
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
Spitzer Space Telescope
URL
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu
Name
Spitzer Space Telescope
Email
Telephone
Address
1200 E. California Blvd.
City
Pasadena
State/Province
CA
Postal Code
91125
Country
USA
Rights
Public Domain
Publisher
Spitzer Science Center
Publisher ID
spitzer
Resource ID
sig07-005.tif
Metadata Date
2011-09-06
Metadata Version
1.1
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×
Universescalefull
600 light years

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