Spitzer Space Telescopee picture of nebula W40, a nursery for hundreds of baby stars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
What appears like a red butterfly in space remains in reality a nursery for numerous child stars, revealed in this infrared image from NASAs Spitzer Space Telescope. Formally called W40, the butterfly is a nebula– a huge cloud of gas and dust in area where brand-new stars might form. The butterflys “wings” are huge bubbles of hot, interstellar gas blowing from the hottest, most enormous stars in this area.
The product that forms W40s wings was ejected from a dense cluster of stars that lies in between the wings in the image. The most popular, most huge of these stars, W40 IRS 1a, lies near the center of the star cluster.
W40 is about 1,400 light-years from the Sun, about the same range as the widely known Orion nebula, although the 2 are practically 180 degrees apart in the sky.
What looks like a red butterfly in space is in reality a nursery for hundreds of infant stars, revealed in this infrared image from NASAs Spitzer Space Telescope. Officially called W40, the butterfly is a nebula– a huge cloud of gas and dust in area where new stars might form. Introduced on August 25, 2003, NASAs Spitzer Space Telescopes objective was to offer an unique, infrared view of the universe and permit us to peer into areas of space that are concealed from optical telescopes.
By NASA
April 13, 2022
This image reveals an artists impression of the Spitzer Space Telescope. The background reveals an infrared image from Spitzer of the airplane of the Milky Way galaxy. Credits: NASA/JPL
Introduced on August 25, 2003, NASAs Spitzer Space Telescopes goal was to provide a distinct, infrared view of deep space and enable us to peer into regions of space that are hidden from optical telescopes. It was the last objective in NASAs Great Observatories Program– a family of 4 space-based observatories, each observing deep space in a various sort of light. The other objectives in the program consist of the visible-light Hubble Space Telescope (HST), Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (CGRO), and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (CXO). Its objective ended on January 30, 2020.
