An Audience-Favorite Nebula

Spitzer_sig12-003_1024

spitzer_sig12-003 March 7th, 2012

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Wisconsin

If astronomy had its own Academy Awards, then this part of the Milky Way would have been the Favorite Nebula pick for 2011. Competing against 12,263 other slices of the sky, this got more votes from the 35,000 volunteers searching for cosmic bubbles than any other location.

The volunteers are all citizen scientists working on the Milky Way Project, scanning a vast collection of infrared images from NASAs Spitzer Space Telescope. Their goal is to identify bubbles that have been blown into gas and dust by stars forming in our Milky Way galaxy. The volunteers study image after image, drawing circles around possible bubbles. Together their efforts have produced a catalog of more than 5,000 bubbles, 10 times what was known before.

While scrutinizing each of the images, the volunteers can to bookmark favorite areas. The bright yellow-red nebula at the center of this image garnered the most votes.Interestingly this nebula, which is in the constellation of Scutum, has no common name since it is hidden behind dust clouds. It takes an infrared telescope like Spitzer, which sees beyond the visible spectrum of light, to see through this dark veil and reveal this spectacular hidden nebula.

We are seeing stars in the process of forming within this audience-favorite nebula, as well in the surrounding areas in this image.

Provider: Spitzer Space Telescope

Image Source: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/4940-sig12-003-An-Audience-Favorite-Nebula

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
Milky Way Galactic Plane
Subject - Milky Way
Galaxy > Component > Disk
Nebula > Type > Interstellar Medium
Nebula > Type > Star Formation
Spitzer_sig12-003_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 18h 46m 13.5s
DEC = -2° 39’ 50.2”
Orientation
North is 62.8° CCW
Field of View
60.0 x 48.0 arcminutes
Constellation
Aquila

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue Spitzer (IRAC) Infrared (Near-IR) 3.6 µm
Green Spitzer (IRAC) Infrared (Mid-IR) 8.0 µm
Red Spitzer (MIPS) Infrared (Mid-IR) 24.0 µm
Spectrum_ir1
Blue
Green
Red
Spitzer_sig12-003_1280
×
ID
sig12-003
Subject Category
B.5.4.3.   B.4.1.1.   B.4.1.2.  
Subject Name
Milky Way, Galactic Plane
Credits
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Wisconsin
Release Date
2012-03-07
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/4940-sig12-003-An-Audience-Favorite-Nebula
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Spitzer, Spitzer, Spitzer
Instrument
IRAC, IRAC, MIPS
Color Assignment
Blue, Green, Red
Band
Infrared, Infrared, Infrared
Bandpass
Near-IR, Mid-IR, Mid-IR
Central Wavelength
3600, 8000, 24000
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
Reference Value
281.55617289711006, -2.6639573173454867
Reference Dimension
3000, 2400
Reference Pixel
1500, 1200
Scale
-0.00033333333333, 0.00033333333333
Rotation
62.81
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
sig12-003.tif
Metadata Date
2012-03-20
Metadata Version
1.2
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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