The Great Observatories Reveal a New Galaxy

The Great Observatories Reveal a New Galaxy
SHARE

A trio of space observatories managed to capture the inner secrets of the Whirlpool Galaxy. Spectacular moments like the birth of some stars and the death of others can be observed in a beautiful video published by the Space Telescope Science Telescope.

The video begins with wide-shot of the entire galaxy, which is located in a zone that is famous for the number of supernovas that occur. The galaxy can be found in the northern sector of the Canes Venatici constellation. It is identified by researchers under the name of M51 or NGC 5194.

It can be said that the Whirlpool Galaxy in of the most interesting examples of spiral galaxies that have been observed. The set of images shows have the galaxy looks like as the observatories cycle trough several wavelengths in order to show different objects that can be found in the galaxy.

The wavelengths that were used are visible light (provided by Hubble), infrared light (courtesy of the Spitzer Space Telescope) and X-rays (delivered by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory). The video notes how each of the telescopes perceives its target and why they are useful for the researchers.

Visible light allows the researcher to look after old and young stars. The young stars are usually blue and can be found in cluster formation near the spirals of the galaxies. Yellow stars are old and they usually reside in the center of a galaxy or somewhere close to it. The oldest stars can are the red ones, which become visible when infrared light is used. They can be found in the entire galaxy. Last but not least are the X-rays which unveil high-energy zones which are populated by neutron stars and binary star systems that can be found around black holes.

A supermassive black hole can be found in the center of the galaxy, releasing powerful amounts of X-rays. By analyzing other galaxies we are able to learn more about the evolution of the universe.


SHARE

I am a pop culture and social media expert. Aside from writing about the latest news health, I also enjoy pop culture and Yoga. I have BA in American Cultural Studies and currently enrolled in a Mass-Media MA program. I like to spend my spring breaks volunteering overseas.

Post Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.