Warm Spitzer Sees 'Serpent' Star-Forming Cloud Spawning Stars

Spitzer_sig14-012_1024

spitzer_sig14-012 May 28th, 2014

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Within the swaddling dust of the Serpens Cloud Core, astronomers are studying one of the youngest collections of stars ever seen in our galaxy. This infrared image uses data from the warm phase of NASAs Spitzer Space Telescope, letting us peer into the clouds of dust wrapped around this stellar nursery.

At a distance of around 750 light-years, these young stars reside within the confines of the constellation Serpens, or the Serpent. This collection contains stars of only relatively low to moderate mass, lacking any of the massive and incredibly bright stars found in larger star-forming regions like the Orion nebula. Our sun is a star of moderate mass. Whether it formed in a low-mass stellar region like Serpens, or a high-mass stellar region like Orion, is an ongoing mystery.

The stellar hatchlings in the Serpens Cloud Core represent the very youngest stages of stellar development. They appear as red, orange and yellow points clustered near the center of the image. Other red features include jets of material ejected from these young stars. Some mature stars that are not in the nebula appear yellowish due to dust obscuring our view at shorter, bluer wavelengths.

This region also includes a population of prenatal stars that are so deeply enshrouded in their dusty cocoons to be completely hidden in this view. They only become detectable at much longer wavelengths of light.

The inner Serpens Cloud Core is remarkably detailed in this image, as it was assembled from 82 separate snapshots totaling a whopping 16.2 hours of Spitzer observing time. Serpens is one of several star-forming regions targeted by the Young Stellar Object Variability (YSOVAR) project, which conducted repeated observations in each area to look for changes in brightness in the baby stars. Such fluctuations can provide valuable clues to how stars gobble up gas and dust as they grow and mature.

Spitzer observations at wavelengths of 3.5 and 4.6 microns are shown in blue and orange, respectively. These observations date from Spitzers warm mission phase, following the depletion of its liquid coolant in 2009.

Provider: Spitzer Space Telescope

Image Source: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/5850-sig14-012-Warm-Spitzer-Sees-Serpent-Star-Forming-Cloud-Spawning-Stars

Curator: Spitzer Space Telescope, Pasadena, CA, USA

Image Use Policy: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/info/18-Image-Use-Policy

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Serpens Cloud
Subject - Milky Way
Nebula > Appearance > Dark
Nebula > Type > Star Formation
Star > Evolutionary Stage > Protostar

Distance

Universescale1
750 light years
Spitzer_sig14-012_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 18h 29m 57.4s
DEC = 1° 14’ 1.7”
Orientation
North is 87.1° CW
Field of View
22.9 x 15.0 arcminutes
Constellation
Serpens

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Cyan Spitzer (IRAC) Infrared (Near-IR) 3.6 µm
Orange Spitzer (IRAC) Infrared (Near-IR) 4.5 µm
Spectrum_base
Cyan
Orange
Spitzer_sig14-012_1280
×
ID
sig14-012
Subject Category
B.4.2.3   B.4.1.2   B.3.1.1  
Subject Name
Serpens Cloud
Credits
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Spitzer, Spitzer
Instrument
IRAC, IRAC
Color Assignment
Cyan, Orange
Band
Infrared, Infrared
Bandpass
Near-IR, Near-IR
Central Wavelength
3600, 4500
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
Reference Value
277.4891560, 1.2338129
Reference Dimension
2251.0, 1476.0
Reference Pixel
1126.5, 739.0
Scale
-0.000169359, 0.0001693592
Rotation
-87.07
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
Spitzer Space Telescope
URL
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
1200 E. California Blvd.
City
Pasadena
State/Province
CA
Postal Code
91125
Country
USA
Rights
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/info/18-Image-Use-Policy
Publisher
Spitzer Science Center
Publisher ID
spitzer
Resource ID
sig14-012.tif
Metadata Date
2014-05-28
Metadata Version
1.2
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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Universescalefull
750 light years

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