Steamy Solar System (Annotated)

Spitzer_ssc2007-14c_1024

spitzer_ssc2007-14c August 29th, 2007

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (SSC)

This diagram illustrates the earliest journeys of water in a young, forming star system. Stars are born out of icy cocoons of gas and dust. As the cocoon collapses under its own weight in an inside-out fashion, a stellar embryo forms at the center surrounded by a dense, dusty disk. The stellar embryo "feeds" from the disk for a few million years, while material in the disk begins to clump together to form planets.

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope was able to probe a crucial phase of this stellar evolution -- a time when the cocoon is vigorously falling onto the pre-planetary disk. The infrared telescope detected water vapor as it smacks down on a disk circling a forming star called NGC 1333-IRAS 4B. This vapor started out as ice in the outer envelope, but vaporized upon its arrival at the disk. There is enough water vapor in the disk to fill the Earth's oceans five times over.

By analyzing the water in the system, astronomers were also able learn about other characteristics of the disk, such as its size, density and temperature.

How did Spitzer see the water vapor deep in the NGC 1333-IRAS 4B system? This is most likely because the system is oriented in just the right way, such that its thicker disk is seen face-on from our Earthly perspective. In this "face-on" orientation, Spitzer can peer through a window carved by an outflow of material from the embryonic star. This system in this drawing is shown in the opposite "edge-on" configuration.

Provider: Spitzer Space Telescope

Image Source: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/1845-ssc2007-14c-Steamy-Solar-System

Curator: Spitzer Space Telescope, Pasadena, CA, USA

Image Use Policy: Public Domain

View Options

Image Details

Image Type
Artwork
Object Name
NGC 1333-IRAS 4B
Subject - Milky Way
Star > Evolutionary Stage > Protostar
Star > Circumstellar Material > Disk > Protoplanetary
Star > Circumstellar Material > Outflow

Distance

Universescale1
1,000 light years
Spitzer_ssc2007-14c_1280
×
ID
ssc2007-14c
Subject Category
B.3.1.1   B.3.7.2.1   B.3.7.3.  
Subject Name
NGC 1333-IRAS 4B
Credits
NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (SSC)
Release Date
2007-08-29
Lightyears
1,000
Redshift
Reference Url
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/1845-ssc2007-14c-Steamy-Solar-System
Type
Artwork
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Instrument
Color Assignment
Band
Bandpass
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
Equinox
Reference Value
Reference Dimension
Reference Pixel
Scale
Rotation
Coordinate System Projection:
Quality
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
ssc2007-14c.tif
Metadata Date
2018-05-11
Metadata Version
1.1
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×
Universescalefull
1,000 light years

Providers | Sign In