Professional and Amateur Astronomers Join Forces
Long before the term "citizen science" was
coined, the field of astronomy has benefited from countless men and women who
study the sky in their spare time. These amateur astronomers devote hours
exploring the cosmos through a variety of telescopes that they acquire,
maintain, and improve on their own. Some of these amateur astronomers specialize
in capturing what is seen through their telescopes in images and are astrophotographers.
What happens when the work of amateur astronomers and astrophotographers is
combined with the data from some of the world's most sophisticated space
telescopes? Collaborations between professional and amateur astronomers reveal
the possibilities and are intended to raise interest and awareness among the
community of the wealth of data publicly available in NASA's various mission
archives. This effort is particularly appropriate for this month because April
marks Global
Astronomy Month, the world's largest global celebration of astronomy.
The images in this quartet of galaxies represent a
sample of composites created with X-ray data
from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, infrared data from the Spitzer Space
Telescope, and optical data collected by an amateur astronomer. In these images,
the X-rays from Chandra are shown in pink, infrared emission from Spitzer is
red, and the optical data are in red, green, and blue. The two
astrophotographers who donated their images for these four images -- Detlef
Hartmann and Rolf Olsen -- used their personal telescopes of 17.5 inches and 10
inches in diameter respectively. More details on how these images were made can
be found in this blog
post.
Starting in the upper left and moving clockwise, the galaxies are M101 (the "Pinwheel
Galaxy"), M81, Centaurus A, and M51 (the "Whirlpool
Galaxy"). M101 is a spiral galaxy like our Milky Way, but about 70% bigger. It
is located about 21 million light
years from Earth. M81 is a spiral galaxy about 12 million light years away
that is both relatively large in the sky and bright, making it a frequent target
for both amateur and professional astronomers. Centaurus A is the fifth
brightest galaxy in the sky -- making it an ideal target for amateur astronomers
-- and is famous for the dust lane across its middle and a giant jet blasting
away from the supermassive black hole at its
center. Finally, M51 is another spiral galaxy, about 30 million light years
away, that is in the process of merging with a smaller galaxy seen to its upper
left.
For many amateur astronomers and astrophotographers, a main goal of their
efforts is to observe and share the wonders of the Universe. However, the long
exposures of these objects may help to reveal phenomena that may otherwise be
missed in the relatively short snapshots taken by major telescopes, which are
tightly scheduled and often oversubscribed by professional astronomers.
Therefore, projects like this Astro
Pro-Am collaboration might prove useful not only for producing spectacular
images, but also contributing to the knowledge of what is happening in each of
these cosmic vistas.
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra
program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian
Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass., controls Chandra's science and
flight operations.
Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: Detlef Hartmann; Infrared:
NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario