Churning Out Stars

Nhsc_nhsc2013-010a_1024

nhsc_nhsc2013-010a March 28th, 2013

Credit: ESA/PACS & SPIRE consortia, A. Rivera-Ingraham & P.G. Martin, Univ. Toronto, HOBYS Key Programme (F. Motte)

W3 is an enormous stellar nursery about 6,200 light-years away in the Perseus Arm, one of the Milky Way galaxy's main spiral arms, which hosts both low- and high-mass star formation. In this image from the Herschel space observatory, the low-mass forming stars are seen as tiny yellow dots embedded in cool red filaments, while the highest-mass stars -- with greater than eight times the mass of our sun -- emit intense radiation, heating up the gas and dust around them and appearing here in blue.

This three-color image of W3 combines Herschel bands at 70 microns (blue), 160 microns (green) and 250 microns (red). The image spans about 2 by 2 degrees. North is up and east is to the left.

Provider: Herschel Space Observatory

Image Source: https://www.herschel.caltech.edu/image/nhsc2013-010a

Curator: NASA Herschel Science Center, Pasadena, CA, USA

Image Use Policy: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/imagepolicy/

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Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
W3
Subject - Milky Way
Nebula > Type > Star Formation

Distance

Universescale1
6,200 light years
Nhsc_nhsc2013-010a_128
 

Position Details

Orientation
North is up

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue Herschel Infrared 70.0 µm
Green Herschel Infrared 160.0 µm
Red Herschel Infrared 250.0 µm
Spectrum_ir1
Blue
Green
Red
Nhsc_nhsc2013-010a_1280
×
ID
nhsc2013-010a
Subject Category
B.4.1.2  
Subject Name
W3
Credits
ESA/PACS & SPIRE consortia, A. Rivera-Ingraham & P.G. Martin, Univ. Toronto, HOBYS Key Programme (F. Motte)
Release Date
2013-03-28
Lightyears
6,200
Redshift
6,200
Reference Url
https://www.herschel.caltech.edu/image/nhsc2013-010a
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Herschel, Herschel, Herschel
Instrument
Color Assignment
Blue, Green, Red
Band
Infrared, Infrared, Infrared
Bandpass
Central Wavelength
70000, 160000, 250000
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
Equinox
2000
Reference Value
Reference Dimension
Reference Pixel
Scale
Rotation
0
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
NASA Herschel Science Center
URL
http://www.herschel.caltech.edu/
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
1200 E. California Blvd.
City
Pasadena
State/Province
CA
Postal Code
91125
Country
USA
Rights
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/imagepolicy/
Publisher
NASA Herschel Science Center
Publisher ID
nhsc
Resource ID
Metadata Date
2018-06-21T00:22:04Z
Metadata Version
1.2
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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Universescalefull
6,200 light years

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