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NASA / JPL-Caltech / CfA
A bubbling cauldron of starbirth is highlighted in this new image of the Cygnus X star-forming region from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The colors indicate different wavelengths of infrared light, ranging from the blue of stars to the red and green of interstellar dust. The stars have blown bubbles, or cavities, in the dust and gas — a violent process that triggers both the death and birth of stars. The brightest, yellow-white regions are warm centers of star formation. Cygnus X is about 4,500 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus, or the Swan.
It's a great day for the world's great observatories: Astronomers around the world have saved up some of their most groundbreaking images to share during this week's meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Austin, Texas.
The Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the European Southern Observatory have teamed up to present their view of "El Gordo," a big, fat galaxy cluster weighed down with the mass of 2 quadrillion suns. Meanwhile, the Hubble Space Telescope's science team is showing off pictures of the most distant developing galaxy cluster ever detected, 13.1 billion light-years away.
Here are a few pictures from some of the world's other top space observatories: NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, which focused on a star-forming region in our Milky Way galaxy known as Cygnus X; NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, which scanned a broad section of the Milky Way; and portraits of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, two of the Milky Way's satellite galaxies, courtesy of Spitzer and the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Telescope.
Stay tuned for more wonders from the AAS meeting as the week wears on — and if you haven't seen it yet, be sure to spread your browser wide and click through our Year in Space Pictures Slideshow.
NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA
This enormous section of the Milky Way galaxy is a mosaic of images from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. The different colors represent specific wavelengths of infrared light: The blue points of light are stars, while green and red represent light mostly emitted by interstellar dust. The constellations Cassiopeia and Cepheus are featured in this 1,000-square degree expanse.
ESA / NASA / JPL-Caltech / STScI
This image shows the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy in infrared light as seen by the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. In the instruments' combined data, this nearby dwarf galaxy looks like a fiery, circular explosion. Rather than fire, however, those ribbons are actually giant ripples of dust spanning tens or hundreds of light-years. Significant fields of star formation are noticeable in the center, just left of center and at right. The brightest center-left region is called 30 Doradus, or the Tarantula Nebula, for its appearance in visible light.
ESA / NASA / JPL-Caltech / STScI
This image shows the Small Magellanic Cloud galaxy in infrared light from the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are the two biggest satellite galaxies of our home galaxy, the Milky Way. In this composite view, the irregular distribution of dust in the Small Magellanic Cloud becomes clear. A stream of dust extends to the left in this image, known as the galaxy's "wing," and a bar of star formation appears on the right. The colors indicate different temperatures in the dust that permeates the Cloud.
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
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Fascinating! Thank you for this wonderful publication. Kinda makes me feel happy to be home on our little planet. The greatness and the vastness of the universes makes me think of the unfathomable mind of God. These are masterpieces in the making. Creation at its boldest.
Your assertion that a universal god is unfathomable is a contradiction and goes against the popular belief amongst theists.
Seriously??? God???? Get out of the dark ages!!!
Stop the Stupidity - Just Say No to Religion
#!/pages/Stop-the-Stupidity-Just-Say-No-to-Religion/117956678323949?sk=wall
" unfathomable mind of God."
Zeus of course, right?
He's referring to the holy noodle appendages of thine sky pasta.
Ramen!
Religion is anti-God.
So close to getting all the funding needed to explore the cosmos.
I think the government is just to scared to denounce religion, but look at the facts and tell yourself that thinking there is a GOD is next to childish, and should be considered in this day and age to be borderline insane!
So go ride off on your UNICORN too and say hi to a Leprechaun.
Absolutely stunning!
Awe inspiring. Lets unfund the wars Tax the churches and put it all into science and eduction
Fantastic idea!
Amen! ; )
&
Food
&
Healthcare!
Stunning. Simply stunning.
Can't touch it!
How does anyone suppose that there is a beginning or an end to this ever evolving thing called life? Oh yeah, I forgot, they're going to re-create these life creating phenomena in a tunnel in Switzerland!! (NOT). Absolutely fantastic photos.
Robert - you need to go back to science class. You should think before you post.
Smashing Atomic Particles is not an attempt to create life. They are using this method to find new particles so they can understand the universe in a more clear way. Reading a book written by groups of people almost two thousand years ago, do not give you any insight to the universe and how it is created and being recreated, all by the birth and death of stars.
Alan, I've pulled out my sky atlas to aid me in trying to pick out Cassiopeia and Cepheus in the picture above but no such luck. Could you put some lines in the picture to highlight them? It's amazing how these pictures compress the brightness such that I cannot see Cassiopeia as clearly as I see it in the sky.
Is their anybody out there ?
Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn?
Aye. Vera's a babe.
*grins at Michael at points to The Wall by Pink Floyd* (Just in case you didn't realize where Mikey was coming from :-) )
are the magellanic clouds galaxies unto themselves? or simply part of the Milky Way Galaxy?
Yes. (Both.)
By analogy, is Cuba an independent land mass? Or is it simply part of the North American Plate? It depends on the definitions that work best for what you are working on at the moment.
The Magellanic Clouds are dwarf galaxies in their own right, much like other dwarf galaxies that we see elsewhere in the Universe. Dwarf galaxies do not need to be associated with larger galaxies, but they often are, due to the immense gravitational influence of larger galaxies.
The last time I checked (it's not in my line of work, but I try to keep tabs) we've identified about three dozen dwarf galaxies that are in various stages of being swept up, and incorporated into, our Milky Way Galaxy.
Cheers! ~Michael (Astronomy.FM★Radio)
Why, seriously, the God versus atheism arguments in response to any astronomy article? Why if you're an atheist do you care if someone else believes in God? Why if you believe in God do you care if someone else is an atheist? Seriously, just live and let live...believe and let believe (or not). Evaluate all the potential evidence and draw your own conclusion. There is not enough evidence for either side (God or no God) to fall back on anything but faith. So put your faith in science, God, or both. But quit trying to convince the other side that only your view is correct. The truth is out there but we are far far far from being able to say with any certainty what that truth is...and there is some real beauty in that very uncertainty...that nature is truly that complex of enigma that we are only just beginning to truly understand.
Well said.
That is great and all in the public square, live and let live, but when it comes to REAL scientific discovery, religion should have no opinion on the matter. Being an 'expert' in religion does NOT make you an expert in ANYTHING else. Not psychics, biology, sociology, psychology, neurobiology........the list goes on. The 'respect' argument is useless.
That is why it is a problem. If a priest, with no medical training walked into your kidney replacement surgery, would you let the DR leave the room and let the priest hack away at you?? no!! Why is that ok with information?? answer, it isnt!
Well put, all this come down to is respect or lack there of.
"So put your faith in science, God, or both."
I don't need to put my 'faith' in science, because it actually produces material results. Look around you, everything around you, including your life span is a result of science. God? Which one? There have been thousands invented by humans over our history. None has been shown to be true.
Jason I don’t really care what religion people want to follow if they find comfort in it and do not inflict it on others that may be otherwise inclined. The problem is that religious faith narrows a person’s outlook to the point that they cannot abide other viewpoints. I think that there are many of us that see a high level of encroachment by the religious right into our government and body of law. This intolerance based activism is like the plague carrying fleas carried in by the relatively harmless rats. All religions carry it. It is expressed in every suicide bomber and act of religious violence as well as in every law restricting reproductive freedom and other personal behaviors. Some of us think that it is time for a preemptive strike at every opportunity. The American Taliban will not take this country while I live.
MSNBC should remove any discussion comments that contain the word god in it. Problem solved. If you want to try and promoto your religious views seek a religious forum not Space and Science. Dimwits
The highly esteemed science writer Stephen Jay Gould has succesfully addressed this as the realms of Non-overlapping Magisteria, in other words, science addresses the study of factual, testable physical phenomena and religion addresses the nonphysical aspects of faith in a spiritual deity... and never the twain shall meet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-overlapping_magisteria
Well put, Jason. These pictures are awe-inspiring no matter how they got here. We will slowly continue to unlock the secrets of the Universe and maybe then we can say with a degree of certainty what is going on in the cosmos.
Seriously, wonderfully God!!!
Seriously, wonderfully, amazingly God!!!
Part of Cassiopeia is the three blue stars you can see good at the bottom. Cepheus would be in the upper portion blocked by gases and dust.
Jason, every intelligent person must be concerned about what other believe because belief can and does lead to action. Religion was invented by man to make free money. No need to work, just slam your fist down on a book and call everyone sinners, then rake in the cash. Before they drink the Kool Aid of course.
Perhaps you should open a history book to learn the of the devastation religion has inflicted on humanity. No wait! Just turn on the TV. It hasn't stopped since its invention. Autopilots don't slam jets into skyscraper.
What you are saying is that we should turn our backs on thugs with a loaded gun who want to kill anyone who doesn't believe in THEIR god. No thanks, they brainwash, intelligent people have a duty to intervene.
Greg-2438150 PERFECT! NBC are you listening? Maybe change god to @#$ as many boards do with so called profanity. Hmmm, but then too, the very idea of a god is profnaity. (sorry, recovering catholic)
These pictures do make me think of God, but in a way most religious people will probably disapprove of.
Thought 1: Wow! This is absolutely spectacular/ amazing/ immense. Just comprehending the scale and scope of the universe is beyond my capabilities. There must be a God to put something so unbelievable together! ... But then after creating this, will this God really get down to the business of assessing whether I slept with my neighbor's wife and therefore smite me? Or will He be so small as to damn anyone who is not Muslim/Catholic/Jewish/Hindu and doesn't worship Him in just the right way?
Thought 2: Wow! This is absolutely spectacular/amazing/immense. Just comprehending the scale and scope of the universe is beyond my capabilities. Nature/the Universe is just so much bigger than our narrow views of Creationism and God.
Come to think of it - both thoughts are really the same. God may exist, but if He does then He is much much bigger than what any religious nutcases can comprehend. And if they do comprehend it, they will realize that what they keep preaching/arguing/fighting over is absolutely meaningless to an entity of that scale.