Uploads from Smithsonian Institution, tagged compositeimage

The fifth planet from the Sun, as seen at a distance of about 400 million miles.

nobody@flickr.com (Smithsonian Institution) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:20:43 -0700

Description: As the New Horizons spacecraft approached Jupiter en route to Pluto in February 2007, Chandra took exposures of the gas giant. In this composite image, Chandra data from three separate observations were combined, and then superimposed on an optical image of Jupiter from the Hubble Space Telescope. The purpose of the Chandra observations is to study the powerful X-ray auroras observed near the poles of Jupiter.

Creator/Photographer: Chandra X-ray Observatory

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. The mirrors on Chandra are the largest, most precisely shaped and aligned, and smoothest mirrors ever constructed. Chandra is helping scientists better understand the hot, turbulent regions of space and answer fundamental questions about origin, evolution, and destiny of the Universe. The images Chandra makes are twenty-five times sharper than the best previous X-ray telescope. 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 controls Chandra science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Medium: Chandra telescope x-ray

Date: 2007

Persistent URL: chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2007/jupiter/

Repository: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Gift line: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SwRI/R.Gladstone

Accession number: jupiter

The remains of a supernova first seen in 1604.

nobody@flickr.com (Smithsonian Institution) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:20:54 -0700

Smithsonian Institution posted a photo:

Description: This composite Chandra X-ray (blue and green), Hubble Space Telescope optical (yellow), and Spitzer Space Telescope infrared (red) image shows a cloud of gas and dust that is 14 light years in diameter and expanding at 4 million miles per hour (2,000 kilometers per second). The optical image reveals 10,000 degrees Celsius gas where the supernova shock wave is slamming into the densest regions of surrounding gas. The infrared image highlights microscopic dust particles swept up and heated by the supernova shock wave. The X-ray data show regions with multimillion degree gas, or extremely high energy particles. The higher-energy X-rays (colored blue) come primarily from the regions directly behind the shock front. Lower-energy X-rays (colored green) mark the location of the hot remains of the exploded star.

Creator/Photographer: Chandra X-ray Observatory

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. The mirrors on Chandra are the largest, most precisely shaped and aligned, and smoothest mirrors ever constructed. Chandra is helping scientists better understand the hot, turbulent regions of space and answer fundamental questions about origin, evolution, and destiny of the Universe. The images Chandra makes are twenty-five times sharper than the best previous X-ray telescope. 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 controls Chandra science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Medium: Chandra telescope x-ray

Date: 2004

Persistent URL: chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2004/kepler/

Repository: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Gift line: NASA/ESA/JHU/R.Sankrit & W.Blair

Accession number: kepler04

A supernova remnant about 20,000 light years from Earth

nobody@flickr.com (Smithsonian Institution) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:19:59 -0700

Smithsonian Institution posted a photo:

Description: This image, made by combining 150 hours of archived Chandra data, shows the remnant of a supernova explosion. The central bright cloud of high-energy electrons is surrounded by a distinctive shell of hot gas. The shell is due to a shock wave generated as the material ejected by the supernova plows into interstellar matter. Although many supernovas leave behind bright shells, others do not. This supernova remnant was long considered to be one without a shell until it was revealed by Chandra.

Creator/Photographer: Chandra X-ray Observatory

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. The mirrors on Chandra are the largest, most precisely shaped and aligned, and smoothest mirrors ever constructed. Chandra is helping scientists better understand the hot, turbulent regions of space and answer fundamental questions about origin, evolution, and destiny of the Universe. The images Chandra makes are twenty-five times sharper than the best previous X-ray telescope. 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 controls Chandra science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Medium: Chandra telescope x-ray

Date: 2005

Persistent URL: www.chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2005/g21/

Repository: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Gift line: NASA/CXC/U.Manitoba/H.Matheson

Accession number: g21_xray

Cassiopeia A: Cassiopeia A in Many Colors

nobody@flickr.com (Smithsonian Institution) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:12:58 -0700

Smithsonian Institution posted a photo:

Description: Cas A is the 300-year-old supernova remnant created by the explosion of a massive star. This stunning picture of Cas A is a composite of infrared (red), optical (yellow) and X-ray (green and blue) images. The infrared image from the Spitzer Space Telescope reveals warm dust in the outer shell with temperatures of about 25 degrees Celsius, whereas the optical image from the Hubble Space telescope brings out the delicate filamentary structures of warmer (10,000 Celsius) gas; Chandra shows hot gases at about 10 million degrees Celsius. This hot gas was created when ejected material from the supernova smashed into surrounding gas and dust at speeds of about ten million miles per hour. A comparison of the infrared and X-ray images of Cas A should enable astronomers to determine whether most of the dust in the supernova remnant came from the massive star before it exploded, or from the rapidly expanding supernova ejecta.

Creator/Photographer: Chandra X-ray Observatory

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. The mirrors on Chandra are the largest, most precisely shaped and aligned, and smoothest mirrors ever constructed. Chandra is helping scientists better understand the hot, turbulent regions of space and answer fundamental questions about origin, evolution, and destiny of the Universe. The images Chandra makes are twenty-five times sharper than the best previous X-ray telescope. 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 controls Chandra science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Medium: Chandra telescope x-ray

Date: 2005

Persistent URL: chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2005/casa/

Repository: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Collection: Supernovas and Supernova Remnants Collection

Gift line: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/STScI; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Accession number: cassiopeia05

Earth Aurora (Auroral X-ray emission observed from Earth's north polar region.)

nobody@flickr.com (Smithsonian Institution) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:17:07 -0700

Smithsonian Institution posted a photo:

Description: The bright arcs in this Chandra image show low-energy X-rays (0.1 - 10 kilo electron volts) generated during auroral activity. The image - seen here superimposed on a simulated image of Earth - is from an approximately 20-minute scan during which Chandra was pointed at a fixed point in the sky while the Earth's motion carried the auroral region through the field of view. Auroras are produced by solar storms that disturb Earth's magnetic field and accelerate electrons which speed along the magnetic field into the polar regions. There the electrons collide with atoms high in Earth's atmosphere and emit X-rays.

Creator/Photographer: Chandra X-ray Observatory

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. The mirrors on Chandra are the largest, most precisely shaped and aligned, and smoothest mirrors ever constructed. Chandra is helping scientists better understand the hot, turbulent regions of space and answer fundamental questions about origin, evolution, and destiny of the Universe. The images Chandra makes are twenty-five times sharper than the best previous X-ray telescope. 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 controls Chandra science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Medium: Chandra telescope x-ray

Date: 2005

Repository: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Gift line: NASA/MSFC/CXC/A.Bhardwaj & R.Elsner, et al.; Earth model: NASA/GSFC/L.Perkins & G.Shirah

Accession number: earth

NGC 6543: The Cat's Eye Nebula Redux (Also known as the Cat's Eye, this planetary nebula is located about 3,000 light years from Earth.)

nobody@flickr.com (Smithsonian Institution) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:13:06 -0700

Smithsonian Institution posted a photo:

Description: A composite image of data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue) and Hubble Space Telescope (red and purple) of NGC 6543 shows a phase that Sun-like stars undergo at the end of their lives. Material from the outer layers of the star in the Cat's Eye is flying away at about 4 million miles per hour. A hot core is left behind that eventually collapses to become a white dwarf star. The Chandra data reveal that the central star in NGC 6543 is surrounded by a cloud of multi-million-degree gas.

Creator/Photographer: Chandra X-ray Observatory

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. The mirrors on Chandra are the largest, most precisely shaped and aligned, and smoothest mirrors ever constructed. Chandra is helping scientists better understand the hot, turbulent regions of space and answer fundamental questions about origin, evolution, and destiny of the Universe. The images Chandra makes are twenty-five times sharper than the best previous X-ray telescope. 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 controls Chandra science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Medium: Chandra telescope x-ray

Date: 2008

Persistent URL: chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2008/catseye/

Repository: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Gift line: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/STScI

Accession number: catseye08

Cartwheel Galaxy: Astronomers Do Flips Over Cartwheel Galaxy

nobody@flickr.com (Smithsonian Institution) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:12:40 -0700

Smithsonian Institution posted a photo:

Description: This image combines data from four different wavelengths of light: infrared (red), visible (green), ultraviolet (blue), and X-ray(purple). The unusual shape of the Cartwheel Galaxy is likely due to a collision with one of the smaller galaxies on the lower left several hundred million years ago. The smaller galaxy produced compression waves in the gas of the Cartwheel as it plunged through it. These compression waves trigger bursts of star formation. The most recent star burst has lit up the Cartwheel's rim, which has a diameter larger than that of the Milky Way Galaxy, with millions of bright young stars. The bright, white X-ray sources on the rim (see inset) are due to matter falling into black holes left behind by the explosion of massive stars.

Creator/Photographer: Chandra X-ray Observatory

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. The mirrors on Chandra are the largest, most precisely shaped and aligned, and smoothest mirrors ever constructed. Chandra is helping scientists better understand the hot, turbulent regions of space and answer fundamental questions about origin, evolution, and destiny of the Universe. The images Chandra makes are twenty-five times sharper than the best previous X-ray telescope. 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 controls Chandra science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Medium: Chandra telescope x-ray

Date: 2006

Persistent URL: chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2006/cartwheel/

Repository: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Gift line: Composite: NASA/JPL/Caltech/P.Ap

Accession number: cartwheel

Coronet Cluster: A Neighbor of Star Formation (A region of star formation about 420 light years from Earth.)

nobody@flickr.com (Smithsonian Institution) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:13:38 -0700

Smithsonian Institution posted a photo:

Description: The Corona Australis region is one of the nearest and most active regions of ongoing star formation in our Galaxy. At only 420 light years away, the Coronet is 3.5 times closer than the Orion Nebula Cluster. The Coronet contains a loose cluster of a few dozen known young stars with a wide range of masses at various stages of evolution. The central area of the star-forming region contains the densest clustering of very young stars, embedded in dust and gas. This composite image shows the Coronet in X-rays (Chandra, purple) and infrared emission (Spitzer, orange, green, and cyan). By studying the variability in different energies, scientists hope to better understand the evolution of very young stars.

Creator/Photographer: Chandra X-ray Observatory

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. The mirrors on Chandra are the largest, most precisely shaped and aligned, and smoothest mirrors ever constructed. Chandra is helping scientists better understand the hot, turbulent regions of space and answer fundamental questions about origin, evolution, and destiny of the Universe. The images Chandra makes are twenty-five times sharper than the best previous X-ray telescope. 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 controls Chandra science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Medium: Chandra telescope x-ray

Date: c. 2000

Persistent URL: chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2007/coronet/

Repository: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Collection: X-rays Collection - X-rays are electromagnetic radiations beyond ultra-violet which form a shadow image of the internal structure of the object when passed through a solid object and allowed to act upon a sensitive emulsion.

Gift line: X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/J.Forbrich et al.;
Infrared: NASA/SSC/CfA/IRAC GTO Team

Accession number: Coronet

Eta Carinae: New View of Doomed Star (A star between 100 and 150 more massive than the Sun, about 7,500 light years from Earth.)

nobody@flickr.com (Smithsonian Institution) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:17:16 -0700

Smithsonian Institution posted a photo:

Description: This composite image of Eta Carinae from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope shows the remnants of a massive eruption from the star during the 1840s. The X-ray data (yellow) show where material from that explosion has collided with nearby gas and dust. The optical data (blue) reveals material ejected from the star has formed a bipolar structure. Chandra detects a faint X-ray reflection off the inner optical nebula due to the collision of stellar winds between Eta Carinae and a suspected companion star. suburbs. Because it is only approximately 25,000 light years from Earth, the center of our galaxy provides an excellent laboratory for learning about the cores of other galaxies.

Creator/Photographer: Chandra X-ray Observatory

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. The mirrors on Chandra are the largest, most precisely shaped and aligned, and smoothest mirrors ever constructed. Chandra is helping scientists better understand the hot, turbulent regions of space and answer fundamental questions about origin, evolution, and destiny of the Universe. The images Chandra makes are twenty-five times sharper than the best previous X-ray telescope. 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 controls Chandra science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Medium: Chandra telescope x-ray

Date: c. 2002

Persistent URL: chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2007/etacar/

Repository: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Collection: Normal Stars and Star Clusters Collection

Gift line: X-ray: NASA/CXC/GSFC/M.Corcoran et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI

Accession number: etacarinae

Abell 1689: A Galaxy Cluster Makes Its Mark (A galaxy cluster at a distance of about 2.3 billion light years from Earth.)

nobody@flickr.com (Smithsonian Institution) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:07:07 -0700

Smithsonian Institution posted a photo:

Description: This image of Abell 1689 is a composite of data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (purple) and the Hubble Space Telescope (yellow). Abell 1689 is a massive cluster of galaxies that shows signs of merging activity. The long arcs in the optical image, the largest system of such arcs ever found, are caused by gravitational lensing of the background galaxies by matter in the galaxy cluster. Further studies of this cluster are needed to explain the lack of agreement between mass estimates based on the X-ray data and on the gravitational lensing.

Creator/Photographer: Chandra X-ray Observatory

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. The mirrors on Chandra are the largest, most precisely shaped and aligned, and smoothest mirrors ever constructed. Chandra is helping scientists better understand the hot, turbulent regions of space and answer fundamental questions about origin, evolution, and destiny of the Universe. The images Chandra makes are twenty-five times sharper than the best previous X-ray telescope. 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 controls Chandra science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Medium: Chandra telescope x-ray

Date: 2008

Persistent URL: chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2008/a1689/

Repository: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Gift line: X-ray: NASA/CXC/MIT/E.-H Peng et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI

Accession number: a1689