Tag: stellar nursery
Leaping Fish
by CritterKeeper on Aug.16, 2010, under Water Creatures
Credit: NASA, ESA and Orsola De Marco (Macquarie University)
Strange shapes, leaping fish and pincers can be found in the colorful sea of gas and dust amid bright blue stars in the star–forming region of NGC 2467.
Cat’s Paw
by CritterKeeper on Apr.27, 2010, under Bugs, birds and other animals
Credit: ESO
Resembling a cat’s paw from Earth, this glowing cloud of hydrogen gas spans 50 light-years. The Cat’s Paw Nebula, or NGC 6334, is a vast, active stellar nursery. It is also home to some of the most massive stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. These stars are only a few million years old; just younglings in the universe. Our Sun, by comparison, is 4.5 billion years old and is considered middle-aged. Massive stars form in this cloud because of the abundance of gas and dust; both ingredients for making baby stars. The massive stars will only live a short time however. In just tens of millions of years, these stars will explode in supernovae. These blasts will spread gas far and wide. The shockwaves will squeeze gas and dust together creating areas for new stars to form.
Valentine Rose
by CritterKeeper on Feb.12, 2010, under Plants/Flowers
Credit: NASA/JPL/Caltech/Harvard-Smithsonian CfA
Bright, young stars form a rosebud-shaped nebula in this image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope known as NGC 7129. In this Valentine’s Day image, thousands of stars are being formed in this dense cloud of gas and dust. Most stars, including our Sun, are thought to have formed in such clouds. Spitzer’s infrared camera allows us to peer inside this cloud.
Starry Presents
by CritterKeeper on Dec.15, 2009, under Water Creatures
Credit: NASA, ESA, and F. Paresce (INAF-IASF, Bologna, Italy), R. O’Connell (University of Virginia, Charlottesville), and the Wide Field Camera 3 Science Oversight Committee
Here is a present to put under the Christmas Tree Nebula from yesterday. In this new image of the star–forming region R136 from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope WFC3, astronomers take a close look at this region of the 30 Doradus Nebula. The region is only a few million years old. R136 is 170,000 light-years from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud. 30 Doradus is the largest, most active star–making region astronomers know of.
Hooded in the mist
by CritterKeeper on Oct.29, 2009, under Eyes in the Sky
Credit: European Space Agency, NASA, and J. Hester (Arizona State University)
This nebula is known as the Omega or Swan Nebula but look close. Can you see the hooded figure in the mist?
Space Slug
by CritterKeeper on Sep.29, 2009, under Bugs, birds and other animals
Credit: NASA/ESA and Jeff Hester (Arizona State University)
Sometimes when we look closer at images we see even more shapes. In the image of the Trifid Nebula we find a giant space slug. It’s right at the edge of the frame and easy to miss.
Starman
by CritterKeeper on Sep.16, 2009, under Fantasy Creatures
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. A. Gutermuth (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA)
Head glowing red, with crazy hair, I see a starman floating in this image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. This reflection nebula is actually NGC 1333. Through the dusty cloud, a dense group of stars are being formed. The young stars in NGC 1333 are not one large cluster but two separate clusters. One in the red area and another in the denser parts of the nebula shown in green and yellow.
Is it a Swan or Lobster?
by CritterKeeper on Aug.26, 2009, under Bugs, birds and other animals
Credit: NASA/JPL–Caltech/Univ. of Wisc.
Deep in the constellation Sagittarius, a cloud that looks like a swan is making new stars. The Swan Nebula is not a quiet nursery though as shown in this image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. It’s an active and tumbling cloud of gas and dust. Massive stars make up the center part of the star cloud. These stars force rivers of gas and dust to slam into the quiet outer regions creating twists and dark areas. Eventually, these dark pockets will form into new stars as well.
Glow Worm
by CritterKeeper on Aug.24, 2009, under Bugs, birds and other animals
Credit: NASA, H. Ford (JHU), G. Illingworth (UCSC/LO), M.Clampin (STScI), G. Hartig (STScI), the ACS Science Team, and ESA
Some people see a beast rising from a red sea. Others see a pillar or mountain. I see a glow worm.
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Welcome to Starry Critters!
Thanks for dropping by! This site combines incredible imagery from the Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope and other great observatories with the imagination of children. Explore and share the patterns you see in the nebula, galaxies and star clusters.Note to Parents and Educators:
The main focus of the site are the images of space. We believe the explanations are best suited for parents, educators and upper grade students. Parents may find it helpful to view the site with their children and explore the universe together using the explanatory text as a guide. Background text is provided to let you know the real story behind the image. Links, very useful for parents and teachers, include definitions and will take you to other sites for even more detail.
Zoom in and out and pan around the images to find your own patterns in the stars. Be creative and think outside the box.Tell us your stories and let us know what you find! Feel free to join the discussion by leaving comments, and stay updated by subscribing to the RSS feed.
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