Explanation: This fantastic skyscape lies at
the eastern edge of giant stellar nursery W5, about 7,000 light-years
away in the constellation Cassiopeia. An infrared view from the Spitzer
Space Telescope, it features interstellar clouds of cold gas and dust
sculpted by winds and radiation from a hot, massive star outside the
picture (just above and to the right). Still swaddled within the cosmic
clouds, newborn stars are revealed by Spitzer's penetrating gaze, their
formation also triggered by the massive star. Fittingly dubbed
"Mountains of Creation", these interstellar clouds are about 10 times
the size of the analogous Pillars of Creation in M16, made famous in a
1995 Hubble Space Telescope view. W5 is also known as IC 1848 and
together with IC 1805 it is part of a complex region popularly dubbed
the Heart and Soul Nebulae. The Spitzer image spans about 70 light-years
at the distance of W5.
No comments:
Post a Comment