An Entire Galaxy, Seen in Ultraviolet
Written by Fraser Cain
NASA's Swift satellite is pretty jittery as space telescopes go. It's designed to wait until it detects a gamma ray burst, and then swing around quickly to start observing. But it's actually equipped with some sensitive instruments, including a wonderful telescope designed for observing in the ultraviolet. In between searching for gamma ray bursts, Swift found the time to build up the most detailed ultraviolet image of an entire galaxy ever taken.
The ultraviolet spectrum is outside the normal range of visual light that we can see with our eyes. But it can sure affect you. Spend to much time out in the sunlight, and the ultraviolet radiation will give you a sunburn.
Young, hot, newly forming stars also give off a tremendous amount of ultraviolet radiation. Look at a galaxy in the ultraviolet, and you see the regions of star formation.
And that's just what Swift did. The space telescope zeroed in on M33 – the Triangulum Galaxy. The galaxy is about half the size of the Milky Way, and located about 2.9 million light-years from Earth.
Even though it's relatively small, M33 is awash in star formation.
"The ultraviolet colors of star clusters tell us their ages and compositions," says Swift team member Stephen Holland of NASA Goddard. "With Swift’s high spatial resolution, we can zero in on the clusters themselves and separate out nearby stars and gas clouds. This will enable us to trace the star-forming history of the entire galaxy.�
This image is actually a mosaic of 13 individual images, captured between December 23, 2007 and January 4, 2008. Astronomers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center then stitched the individual pieces together into a single image. It's the most detailed ultraviolet image ever taken of an entire galaxy.
Original Source: NASA News Release
Filed under: Astronomy
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February 27th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Beautiful,as m33 always is.
February 28th, 2008 at 12:29 am
Nice to know there's something special about M33. Always seems to be overshadowed by showy M31 in Andromeda – kinda like the poor relation. It's even been accused of having no black hole in its centre Hmphh! The cheek of it!
I'll be looking at it with renewed interest through my backyard telescope from now on
February 28th, 2008 at 2:53 am
Great picture. Thanks for keeping up the excellent standard of UT output.
David
February 28th, 2008 at 6:39 am
It is beautiful, God's Fireworks!
It would be a beautiful screensaver.
February 28th, 2008 at 6:40 am
It is beautiful, God's Fireworks; it would make a great screensaver.
February 28th, 2008 at 6:58 am
Humbling.
February 28th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Speaking of 'God', just think, M33 [whirlpol galaxy I think] is just one of billions and billions of galaxies. Now, you toss in the ideal of the multiple universes, and you've got a God who really knows what's he's doing.
March 2nd, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Very interesting. This galaxy may be smaller, but it is quite active. It is no wallflower after all.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:11 am
Sub: Cone shaped Distribution- -M33
I expect a cone shaped Galaxy at or around 10^6 LY that fits into my DMVT -Dynamic process distribution of Energy.Evidently , no blackholes -which is a misnomer- at this range near Andromeda
Vidyardhi Nanduri
Cosmology Vedas interlinks
March 9th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
it's so great