News, Updates, and Resources for Colors From Space
References
- For an explanation of how color astronomical images are made, see The Meaning of Color at NASA HubbleSite http://hubblesite.org/gallery/behind_the_pictures/meaning_of_color/.
For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 5. Includes new terminology,
"representative color" and "enhanced color" that have replaced the old
term "false color."
- 2 Micron All-Sky Survey http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/2mass/
- On color
blindness...
- Infrared Science Archive (IRSA) http://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/
- Spacecraft with instruments for observing beyond
the visible light spectrum
Online spectra: http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/quantumzone/
Online Articles and News about
Colors in Astronomy
- 2014-03-20. NASA's Spitzer Telescope Brings 360-Degree View of Galaxy to Our Fingertips. NASA RELEASE 14-081. Excerpt: ...A new panorama from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows us our galaxy's plane all the way around us in infrared light. Touring the Milky Way now is as easy as clicking a button with NASA's new zoomable, 360-degree mosaic presented Thursday at the TEDActive 2014 Conference in Vancouver, Canada. The star-studded panorama of our galaxy is constructed from more than 2 million infrared snapshots taken over the past 10 years by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.... http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/march/nasas-spitzer-telescope-brings-360-degree-view-of-galaxy-to-our-fingertips/#.UzYFWF5GLHQ. Also http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/glimpse360/downloads has 8K and 24K versions of the GLIMPSE360 survey as single full-sky equirectangular projections (galactic coordinates) that can be easily used by most systems. They also have alpha channels should you want to composite this strip against other full-sky images. Permanent home for WorldWide Telescope WTML file is at http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/glimpse360/wwt/glimpse360.wtml All of our press release materials and public viewer links are here: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/glimpse360
- 2013-12-04. NASA's Cassini Spacecraft Obtains Best Views of Saturn Hexagon. http://www.nasa.gov/press/2013/december/nasas-cassini-spacecraft-obtains-best-views-of-saturn-hexagon/ - NASA RELEASE 13-358. Excerpt: NASA's Cassini spacecraft has obtained the highest-resolution movie yet of a unique six-sided jet stream, known as the hexagon, around Saturn's north pole. ...Better views of the hexagon are available now because the sun began to illuminate its interior in late 2012. ... these images [are] in false color, a rendering method that made it easier to distinguish differences among the types of particles suspended in the atmosphere -- relatively small particles that make up haze -- inside and outside the hexagon. See images at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-350
- 2012-03-14. NASA Releases New WISE Mission Catalog Of Entire Infrared Sky. | by J.D. Harrington, Whitney Clavin, NASA RELEASE : 12-082. Excerpt: NASA unveiled a new atlas and catalog of the entire infrared sky today showing more than a half billion stars, galaxies and other objects captured by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission. …WISE observations have led to numerous discoveries, including the elusive, coolest class of stars. …WISE also took a poll of near-Earth asteroids, finding there are significantly fewer mid-size objects than previously thought. It also determined NASA has found more than 90 percent of the largest near-Earth asteroids. …WISE found the first known "Trojan" asteroid to share the same orbital path around the sun as Earth. …For a collection of WISE images released to date, visit: http://wise.ssl.berkeley.edu/gallery_images.html An introduction and quick guide to accessing the WISE all-sky archive for astronomers is online at: http://wise2.ipac.caltech.edu/docs/release/allsky/ …. Read the full article: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2012/mar/HQ_12-082_WISE_Infrared_Sky.html
- 2012-03-14. The Sky in Infrared | by Bryan Mendez, NASA WISE mission. 9.1,9.2. Excerpt: Today NASA and the Wide-field Survey Explorer (WISE) Team have released the full-sky infrared observations of the sky. As part of this release, a down-sampled but very high resolution spherical image map of the infrared sky has been rendered from this dataset and is available for use! The image includes 3.4 (blue), 12 (green), and 22 micron (red) bands and has been cleaned to remove frame edge artifacts and the irregular traces of zodiacal emission. It is 19,000 x 9,500 pixels, which is ideal for all full-dome projection systems. The image is available in an equirectangular projection that will map cleanly onto a sphere and is presented in Galactic coordinates. You can find the image at the WISE website (along with an annotated version that highlights the locations of many objects of interest that have been released as images): http://wise.ssl.berkeley.edu/gallery_thesky.html Note that this image aligns with other full-sky infrared images that have been available for some time at: http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/resources/informal_education/index.html
- 2011 Oct 24. NASA Telescopes Help Solve Ancient Supernova Mystery
(NASA RELEASE
:
11-360) Excerpt: WASHINGTON -- A mystery that began nearly 2,000 years ago, when Chinese
astronomers witnessed what would turn out to be an exploding star in the
sky, has been solved. New infrared observations from NASA's Spitzer
Space Telescope (http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer) and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE (http://www.nasa.gov/wise), reveal
how the first supernova ever recorded occurred and how its shattered
remains ultimately spread out to great distances. The
findings show that the stellar explosion took place in a hollowed-out
cavity, allowing material expelled by the star to travel much faster and
farther than it would have otherwise.
"This supernova
remnant got really big, really fast," said Brian J. Williams, an
astronomer at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Williams is
lead author of a new study detailing the findings online in the
Astrophysical Journal. "It's two to three times bigger than we would
expect for a supernova that was witnessed exploding nearly 2,000 years
ago. Now, we've been able to finally pinpoint the cause."
In 185 A.D., Chinese astronomers noted a "guest star" that
mysteriously appeared in the sky and stayed for about 8 months. By the
1960s, scientists had determined that the mysterious object was the
first documented supernova. Later, they pinpointed RCW 86 as a supernova
remnant located about 8,000 light-years away. But a puzzle persisted.
The star's spherical remains are larger than expected. If they could be
seen in the sky today in infrared light, they'd take up more space than
our full moon.
... observations also show for the first time that a white dwarf can
create a cavity around it before blowing up in a Type Ia event. A cavity
would explain why the remains of RCW 86 are so big. When the explosion
occurred, the ejected material would have traveled unimpeded by gas and
dust and spread out quickly.
- 2009 August 5. NASA RELEASE: 09-181. NASA'S
Spitzer Sees The Cosmos Through 'Warm' Infrared
Eyes. Excerpt: WASHINGTON --
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope is starting a second
career and taking its first shots of the cosmos
since warming up. The infrared telescope ran out
of coolant May 15, 2009, more than five-and-one-half-years
after launch. It has since warmed to a still-frosty
30 degrees Kelvin (about minus 406 degrees Fahrenheit).
New images taken with two of Spitzer's infrared
detector channels -- two that work at the new warmer
temperature -- demonstrate the observatory remains
a powerful tool for probing the dusty universe.
The images show a bustling star-forming region,
the remains of a star similar to the sun, and a
swirling galaxy lined with stars.
...Since its launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla.,
on Aug. 25, 2003, Spitzer has made many discoveries.
They include planet-forming disks around stars,
the composition of the material making up comets,
hidden black holes, galaxies billions of light-years
away and more.
Perhaps the most revolutionary and surprising Spitzer
finds involve planets around other stars, called
exoplanets. In 2005, Spitzer detected the first
photons of light from an exoplanet. In a clever
technique, now referred to as the secondary-eclipse
method, Spitzer was able to collect the light of
a hot, gaseous exoplanet and learn about its temperature.
Later detailed studies revealed more about the
composition and structure of the atmospheres of
these exotic worlds.
Warm Spitzer will address many of the same science
questions as before. It also will tackle new projects,
such as refining estimates of Hubble's constant,
or the rate at which our universe is stretching
apart; searching for galaxies at the edge of the
universe; characterizing more than 700 near-Earth
objects, or asteroids and comets with orbits that
pass close to our planet; and studying the atmospheres
of giant gas planets expected to be discovered
soon by NASA's Kepler mission....
- 2005 Mar 3. News Release: 2005-031 Spitzer Space
Telescope Provides Visual Feast Online. The
magic of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope comes alive
in an online interactive presentation, available
now at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/stars_galaxies/ or http://www.nasa.gov/centers/jpl/starsgalaxies/index.html.
The show-and-tell feature highlights colorful images
of galaxies, nebulas and other celestial wonders,
all captured during the mission's first year-and-a-half
in space. The images, coupled with artists' concepts,
text and interviews with scientists, illustrate how
Spitzer's powerful infrared eyes are dramatically
enhancing our knowledge of the universe. Infrared
is particularly effective for penetrating thick,
murky regions of space and revealing what lies beyond.
Recent Spitzer discoveries include details about
the chaotic planet-forming process around stars;
a faint, star-like object in an area previously believed
to be star-free; and a star system that may harbor
the youngest planet ever found.
- January 2004. Why
can't
we see green stars? From Astronomy Magazine, "Ask
Astro"
p. 73.
- December 18, 2003 NASA RELEASE : 03-411 NASA
Releases Dazzling Images From New Space Telescope. A
new window to the universe was opened with today's
release of the first dazzling images from NASA's
newly named Spitzer Space Telescope, formerly known
as the Space Infrared Telescope Facility. The first
observations, of a glowing stellar nursery; a swirling,
dusty galaxy; a disc of planet-forming debris;
and organic material in the distant universe, demonstrate
the power of the telescope's infrared detectors
to capture cosmic features never before seen. The
Spitzer Space Telescope was also officially named
today after the late Dr. Lyman Spitzer, Jr. He
was one of the 20th century's most influential
scientists, and in the mid-1940s, he first proposed
placing telescopes in space. ...While the other
Great Observatories have probed the universe with
visible light (Hubble Space Telescope), gamma rays
(Compton Gamma Ray Observatory) and X-rays (Chandra
X-ray Observatory), the Spitzer Space Telescope
observes the cosmos in the infrared. Spitzer's
unprecedented sensitivity allows it to sense infrared
radiation, or heat, from the most distant, cold
and dust-obscured celestial objects. Today's initial
images revealed the versatility of the telescope,
and its three science instruments. Spitzer Space
Telescope (formerly SIRTF--Space Infrared Telescope
Facility) http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu
- The
Meaning of Color in Hubble Images
- June 5, 2002 . Hubble's Infrared Camera
is Back in Business -- New Images Released
-- http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/2002/13/
-- After
more than three years of inactivity, the Near
Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer
(NICMOS) has reopened its ñnear-infrared
eyesî on the universe, snapping several
breathtaking views, from the craggy interior
of a star-forming cloud to a revealing look at
the heart of an edge-on galaxy.
- March 20, 2002 -NASA CELEBRATES SUN-EARTH DAY
WITH SOLAR X-RAY FIREWORKS -- http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20020320hessixray.html
-- Just
in time for Sun-Earth Day, a new NASA spacecraft,
complete with a new name, made its debut by observing
a huge explosion in the atmosphere of the Sun. The
blast, called a solar flare, was equal to one million
megatons of TNT and gave off powerful bursts of X-rays.
X-ray movie from RHESSI.(Reuven Ramaty High-Energy
Solar Spectroscopic Imager) spacecraft
- March 13, 2002 -- Ultraviolet movies of Jupiter http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/targetFamily/Jupiter
- Dec. 19, 2001 -- HOT GALACTIC ARMS POINT TO VICIOUS
CYCLE ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2001/01-252.txt
-- NASA's
Chandra X-ray Observatory has revealed the aftermath
of a titanic explosion that wracked the elliptical
galaxy known as NGC 4636. This eruption could be
the latest episode in a cycle of violence triggered
by gas falling into a central massive black hole.
Chandra's images of NGC 4636 show spectacular symmetric
arms, or arcs, of hot gas extending 25,000 light-years
into a huge cloud of multimillion-degree Celsius
gas that envelopes the galaxy. At a temperature of
10 million degrees, the arms are 30 percent hotter
than the surrounding gas cloud.
"The temperature jump, together with the symmetry
and scale of the arms, suggests that we are observing
the effects of a tremendous outburst that occurred
in the center of the galaxy,"
said Christine Jones of the Harvard-Smithsonian
Center for Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge, Mass.,
lead author of a paper on these observations scheduled
for publication in Astrophysical Journal Letters. "The
energy of this explosion would be the equivalent
of several hundred thousand supernovas." RELEASE:
01-252
- Nov. 29, 2001 -- Chandra captures Venus
in a whole new light -- Scientists
have captured the first X-ray view of Venus using
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. The observations
provide new information about the atmosphere
of Venus and open a new window for examining
Earth's sister planet. Release:
01-362.
- Nov. 7, 2001 -- NASA'S HETE SPOTS RARE GAMMA-RAY
BURST AFTERGLOW -- ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2001/01-218.txt
A
rare optical afterglow of a gamma-ray burst, the
most powerful type of explosion in the universe,
was recently discovered by NASA's High Energy Transient
Explorer (HETE), the first satellite dedicated to
spotting these frequent yet random explosions that
last only for a few seconds. RELEASE: 01-218
- November 1, 2001 Hubble Reveals
Ultraviolet
Galactic Ring -- http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/PR/2001/37/index.html
-- Galaxy
NGC 6782, when seen in visible light,
exhibits tightly wound spiral arms that
give it a pinwheel shape similar to that
of many other spirals. However, when
the galaxy is viewed in ultraviolet light
with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, its
shape is startlingly different. STScI-PRC01-37.
- Sept 14, 2001 CHANDRA SPIES
RARE ISOTOPES (Sky &
Telescope magazine
online)
By peering
deep into the Orion Nebula,
scientists using the Chandra
X-ray Observatory may have
solved one of the lingering
questions about the early
days of our own solar system.
The team lead by Eric
Feigelson (Pennsylvania
State University), detected
high abundances of three
atomic isotopes -- aluminum-26,
calcium-41, and beryllium-10
-- around young stars
in the nebula. The isotopes
were created by X-ray
solar flares from the
infant stars.
The same elements are
found in our solar system,
locked tightly in ancient
meteorites. Yet astronomers
had struggled to understand
how those isotopes got
there. The isotopes have
a relatively short life,
meaning they must have
formed sometime after
the solar system's birth.
Nevertheless, it remained
unclear how our Sun could
produce them. Only high-mass
stars were believed capable
of forming such isotopes.
Thus the most likely
suspect was a nearby
supernova explosion.
From the X-ray observations,
astronomers now see that
young Sun-like stars
not only can produce
these isotopes, they
can do it in the abundances
necessary to match the
solar system's observed
quantities. Feigelson
explains, "This is an
excellent example of
how apparently distant
scientific fields like
X-ray astronomy and the
origins of solar systems
can in fact be linked."
- Sept. 6, 2001 CHANDRA PROBES NATURE
OF DARK MATTER -- RELEASE:
01-180
- Sept. 5, 2001 CHANDRA CATCHES MILKY
WAY MONSTER SNACKING. RELEASE:
01-179
- Aug. 9, 2001 Astronomers go
behind the Milky Way to solve X-ray
mystery Release:
01-272
- August 9, 2001 New View of
Primordial
Helium Traces the Structure of Early
Universe http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/2001/27/
NASA's
Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer
(FUSE)
- August 9, 2001 Through layers of gas
and dust that stretch for more than 30,000
light-years, astronomers using NASA's
Chandra X- ray Observatory have taken
a long, hard look at the plane of the
Milky Way galaxy and found that its X-ray
glow comes from hot and diffuse gas. ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2001/01-161.txt
- August 9, 2001 NASA's Far
Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer
(FUSE) satellite has given astronomers
their best glimpse yet at the
ghostly cobweb of helium gas
left over from the Big Bang,
which underlies the universe's
structure. ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2001/01-160.txt
- Kaler, James B., "Beyond the
Rainbow", Astronomy Magazine,
September, 2000, pp. 38-43. ...
"Astronomers
have opened new windows on the
universe by studying the kinds
of 'light' we can't see with
our eyes."
- 06/16/00 Astronomers Win
Protection for Key Part of
Spectrum http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?pr0046
--
NSF Custom News Service http://www.nsf.gov/home/cns/start.htm
- 06/16/00 SUGAR IN SPACE As
but one example of the power
of radio astronomy, researchers
have announced the discovery
of a simple sugar molecule,
glycolaldehyde,
in interstellar space. The location
is a dense cloud of gas and dust
some 26,000 light-years away,
in the direction of the galactic
center. According to astronomer
Jan Hollis, the discovery of
glycolaldehyde makes it increasingly
likely that the chemical precursors
of life are synthesized in these
dense clouds long before the
gas and dust collapses to form
stars and planets. Notably, the
eight-atom molecule was identified
with a 12-meter-wide radio telescope
atop Kitt Peak in Arizona, and
the National Science Foundation
will shut down this telescope
in July, in preparation for a
new telescope array being built
in northern Chile. (Sky &
Telescope magazine)
- 04/14/00 Radio
Telescope Reaches Construction
Milestone (Sky & Telescope
magazine)
- 03/00 James Trefil, Reaching
for the Sun -- How we learned
to read the chemistry of
stars and planets;
(Astronomy Magazine,
pages 70-74); historical
references to Joseph von
Frauenhofer, Gustav Kirchhoff,
Robert Bunsen, Norman Lockyer.
Hard Copy Articles About
Color in Astronomy
- Bova, Ben, Fingerprints from Rainbows, Mercury
magazine, Sept/Oct 2004, p. 22-29. "Besides
light's ability to illuminate the wolrd around us,
it also has an equally profound ability to inform
us of the nature of objects in that world."
- Comins, Neal F., Beyond the Pale, Astronomy
Magazine,
May, 2002, pp.40-45.
- Skrutskie, Michael, 2MASS: Unveiling the
Inrared Universe, Sky & Telescope
magazine,
July 2001, p. 34.
- Wanjek, Christopher, Chandra Delivers,
Mercury Magazine,
March-April, 2001 Chandra's 1st 18 months in orbit
have yielded a bonanza of scientific discoveries.
- T. Joseph W. Lazio, Razor-Sharp Radio
Astronomy,
May-June, 2001, Mercury Magazine. pp. 34-40.
By constructing virtual telescopes the size of continents
(and larger) radio astronomers are obtaining spectacular
high resolution results.
- Zimmerman, Robert, Seeing with X-ray Eyes,
Astronomy Magazine,
May 2001, page 36. The Chandra X-ray Observatory
is giving astronomers their sharpest view ever of
the high-temperature universe.
Hard Copy Books About Color
in Astronomy
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