Baby Picture of our Solar System: The Spinning Top Star in Infrared

Spitzer_ssc2007-19a1_1024

spitzer_ssc2007-19a1 November 29th, 2007

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UIUC, Caltech/SSC

A rare, infrared view of a developing star and its flaring jets taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows us what our own solar system might have looked like billions of years ago. In visible light, this star and its surrounding regions are completely hidden in darkness.

Stars form out of spinning clouds, or envelopes, of gas and dust. As the envelopes flatten and collapse, jets of gas stream outward and a swirling disk of planet-forming material takes shape around the forming star. Eventually, the envelope and jets disappear, leaving a newborn star with a suite of planets. This process takes millions of years.

The Spitzer image shows a developing sun-like star, called L1157, that is only thousands of years old (for comparison, our solar system is around 4.5 billion years old). Why is the young system only visible in infrared light? The answer has to do with the fact that stars are born in the darkest and dustiest corners of space, where little visible light can escape. But the heat, or infrared light, of an object can be detected through the dust.

In Spitzer's infrared view of L1157, the star itself is hidden but its envelope is visible in silhouette as a thick black bar. While Spitzer can peer through this region's dust, it cannot penetrate the envelope itself. Hence, the envelope appears black. The thickest part of the envelope can be seen as the black line crossing the giant jets. This L1157 portrait provides the first clear look at stellar envelope that has begun to flatten.

The color white shows the hottest parts of the jets, with temperatures around 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit). Most of the material in the jets, seen in orange, is roughly zero degrees on the Celsius and Fahrenheit scales.

The reddish haze all around the picture is dust. The white dots are other stars, mostly in the background.

L1157 is located 800 light-years away in the constellation Cepheus.

Provider: Spitzer Space Telescope

Image Source: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/1872-ssc2007-19a1-Baby-Picture-of-our-Solar-System

Curator: Spitzer Space Telescope, Pasadena, CA, USA

Image Use Policy: Public Domain

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Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
L1157
Subject - Milky Way
Star > Evolutionary Stage > Protostar
Nebula > Type > Jet
Nebula > Type > Star Formation
Nebula > Appearance > Dark
Star > Circumstellar Material > Outflow

Distance

Universescale1
815 light years
Spitzer_ssc2007-19a1_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 20h 39m 6.1s
DEC = 68° 2’ 16.0”
Orientation
North is 354.8° CCW
Field of View
17.5 x 21.6 arcminutes
Constellation
Draco

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue Spitzer (IRAC) Infrared (Near-IR) 3.6 µm
Green Spitzer (IRAC) Infrared (Near-IR) 4.5 µm
Red Spitzer (IRAC) Infrared (Mid-IR) 8.0 µm
Spectrum_base
Blue
Green
Red
Spitzer_ssc2007-19a1_1280
×
ID
ssc2007-19a1
Subject Category
B.3.1.1   B.4.1.5   B.4.1.2   B.4.2.3   B.3.7.3.  
Subject Name
L1157
Credits
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UIUC, Caltech/SSC
Release Date
2007-11-29
Lightyears
815
Redshift
Reference Url
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/1872-ssc2007-19a1-Baby-Picture-of-our-Solar-System
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Distance taken from Fast Facts. Converted from pc.
Facility
Spitzer, Spitzer, Spitzer
Instrument
IRAC, IRAC, IRAC
Color Assignment
Blue, Green, Red
Band
Infrared, Infrared, Infrared
Bandpass
Near-IR, Near-IR, Mid-IR
Central Wavelength
3600, 4500, 8000
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
309.77561650769553, 68.0377902554105
Reference Dimension
1171.0, 1444.0
Reference Pixel
585.5, 722.4
Scale
-2.4968434061e-4, 2.4968434061e-4
Rotation
354.766508332
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
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
ssc2007-19b.tif
Metadata Date
2011-09-06
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×
Universescalefull
815 light years

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