NASA - Andromeda's Colorful Rings

 

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Andromeda's Colorful Rings

The ring-like swirls of dust filling the Andromeda galaxy stand out colorfully in this new image from the Herschel Space Observatory, a European Space Agency mission with important NASA participation.

The glow seen here comes from the longer-wavelength, or far, end of the infrared spectrum, giving astronomers the chance to identify the very coldest dust in our galactic neighbor. These light wavelengths span from 250 to 500 microns, which are a quarter to half of a millimeter in size. Herschel's ability to detect the light allows astronomers to see clouds of dust at temperatures of only a few tens of degrees above absolute zero. These clouds are dark and opaque at shorter wavelengths. The Herschel view also highlights spokes of dust between the concentric rings.

The colors in this image have been enhanced to make them easier to see, but they do reflect real variations in the data. The very coldest clouds are brightest in the longest wavelengths, and colored red here, while the warmer ones take on a bluish tinge.

These data, together with those from other observatories, reveal that other dust properties, beyond just temperature, are affecting the infrared color of the image. Clumping of dust grains, or growth of icy mantles on the grains towards the outskirts of the galaxy, appear to contribute to these subtle color variations.

These observations were made by Herschel's spectral and photometric imaging receiver (SPIRE) instrument. The data were processed as part of a project to improve methods for assembling mosaics from SPIRE observations. Light with a wavelength of 250 microns is rendered as blue, 350-micron is green, and 500-micron light is red. Color saturation has been enhanced to bring out the small differences at these wavelengths.

Image credit: ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech/NHSC

NASA

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

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NASA, ESA Telescopes Find Evidence for Asteroid Belt Around Vega

 This artist's concept illustrates an asteroid belt around the bright star Vega. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech › Full image and caption

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Rocky Ring of Debris Around Vega

This artist's concept illustrates an asteroid belt around the bright star Vega. Evidence for this warm ring of debris was found using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, and the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory, in which NASA plays an important role.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA, ESA Telescopes Find Evidence for Asteroid Belt Around Vega

 

 

WASHINGTON -- Astronomers have discovered what appears to be a large asteroid belt around the star Vega, the second brightest star in northern night skies. The scientists used data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the European Space Agency's (ESA) Herschel Space Observatory, in which NASA plays an important role.

The discovery of an asteroid belt-like band of debris around Vega makes the star similar to another observed star called Fomalhaut. The data are consistent with both stars having inner, warm belts and outer, cool belts separated by a gap. This architecture is similar to the asteroid and Kuiper belts in our own solar system.

What is maintaining the gap between the warm and cool belts around Vega and Fomalhaut? The results strongly suggest the answer is multiple planets. Our solar system's asteroid belt, which lies between Mars and Jupiter, is maintained by the gravity of the terrestrial planets and the giant planets, and the outer Kuiper belt is sculpted by the giant planets.

"Our findings echo recent results showing multiple-planet systems are common beyond our sun," said Kate Su, an astronomer at the Steward Observatory at the University of Arizona. Su presented the results Tuesday at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Long Beach, Calif., and is lead author of a paper on the findings accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal.

Vega and Fomalhaut are similar in other ways. Both are about twice the mass of our sun and burn a hotter, bluer color in visible light. Both stars are relatively nearby at about 25 light-years away. The stars are thought to be around 400 million years old, but Vega could be closer to its 600 millionth birthday. Fomalhaut has a single candidate planet orbiting it, Fomalhaut b, which orbits at the inner edge of its cometary belt.

The Herschel and Spitzer telescopes detected infrared light emitted by warm and cold dust in discrete bands around Vega and Fomalhaut, discovering the new asteroid belt around Vega and confirming the existence of the other belts around both stars. Comets and the collisions of rocky chunks replenish the dust in these bands. The inner belts in these systems cannot be seen in visible light because the glare of their stars outshines them.

Both the inner and outer belts contain far more material than our own asteroid and Kuiper belts. The reason is twofold: the star systems are far younger than our own, which has had hundreds of millions more years to clean house, and the systems likely formed from an initially more massive cloud of gas and dust than our solar system.

The gap between the inner and outer debris belts for Vega and Fomalhaut also proportionally corresponds to the distance between our sun's asteroid and Kuiper belts. This distance works out to a ratio of about 1:10, with the outer belt 10 times farther away from its host star than the inner belt. As for the large gap between the two belts, it is likely there are several undetected planets, Jupiter-sized or smaller, creating a dust-free zone between the two belts. A good comparison star system is HR 8799, which has four known planets that sweep up the space between two similar disks of debris.

"Overall, the large gap between the warm and the cold belts is a signpost that points to multiple planets likely orbiting around Vega and Fomalhaut," said Su.

If unseen planets do in fact orbit Vega and Fomalhaut, these bodies will not likely stay hidden.

"Upcoming new facilities such as NASA's James Webb Space Telescope should be able to find the planets," said paper co-author Karl Stapelfeldt, chief of the Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

For NASA's Herschel website, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/herschel

For ESA's Herschel website, visit:

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Herschel/index.html

For more information about Spitzer, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer

NASA

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

ayabaca@gmail.com

ayabaca@hotmail.com

ayabaca@yahoo.com  

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NASA - NASA Events Set for American Astronomical Society Meeting

Armchair Science: Bag and Tag Glowing Galactic Clouds

This is a screen shot from the Clouds game, a new addition to the Milky Way Project, where everyone can help astronomers sort and measure our galaxy. Copyright: 2010-2012 Zooniverse 

A new galactic game launching today lets citizen scientists identify the glowing clouds where future stars will be born. The online experience, called Clouds, is a new addition to the Milky Way Project, where everyone can help astronomers sort and measure our galaxy. Clouds features images and data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the Herschel Space Observatory, a European Space Agency mission with important participation from NASA.

In the rapid-fire game, players gauge whether a targeted section of a presented image is a cloud, a "hole" -- an empty region of space -- or something in between. The cataloging of these snapshots of the local cosmos will help astronomers learn more about the architecture and character of our home galaxy, the Milky Way.

The organizers of Clouds encourage astronomy enthusiasts to start playing now, because with enough participation, important insights into the Milky Way could come as soon as early next year.

"We're really excited to launch Clouds and see results back from our giant volunteer team of amateur scientists," said Robert Simpson, a postdoctoral researcher in astronomy at Oxford University, England, and principal investigator of the Milky Way Project. "We think the community can blast through all these data fairly quickly. We may even be done by the spring, and that would be an amazing result for citizen science."

Read the full story at:  

http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/1489-feature12-08-Armchair-Science-Bag-and-Tag-Glowing-Galactic-Clouds .

To participate in the Clouds experience by looking for infrared clouds and contributing to the Milky Way Project, visit:

 http://www.milkywayproject.org/clouds .

For more information about Spitzer, visit:

http://spitzer.caltech.edu and

 http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer . More information is online at: 

http://www.herschel.caltech.edu , 

http://www.nasa.gov/herschel and

 http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Herschel .

 NASA Events Set for American Astronomical Society Meeting

 

 

WASHINGTON -- NASA scientists will present new findings on a wide range of astrophysics topics next week at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS). The meeting takes place Jan. 6-10 at the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd, in Long Beach, Calif. Media registration for the event is open.

None of the briefings will be carried on NASA Television, but all will be web-streamed on AAS's website for registered journalists.

NASA's media briefings during the meeting will feature topics such as new video of a rapidly rotating neutron star, the latest images of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, and the most detailed "weather map" of a brown dwarf star. In addition, NASA scientists and their colleagues who use NASA research capabilities will present noteworthy findings during several scientific sessions throughout the week.

For a complete list of NASA-related news briefings, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/aas

The site will be updated throughout the week with additional information about NASA presentations.

For detailed information about the 221st AAS meeting, visit:

http://aas.org/meetings/aas221

For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

NASA

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

ayabaca@gmail.com

ayabaca@hotmail.com

ayabaca@yahoo.com  

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