(Press-News.org) This dramatic new image of cosmic clouds in the constellation of Orion reveals what seems to be a fiery ribbon in the sky. This orange glow represents faint light coming from grains of cold interstellar dust, at wavelengths too long for human eyes to see. It was observed by the ESO-operated Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) in Chile.
Clouds of gas and interstellar dust are the raw materials from which stars are
made. But these tiny dust grains block our view of what lies within and behind
the clouds -- at least at visible wavelengths -- making it difficult to
observe the processes of star formation.
This is why astronomers need to use instruments that are able to see at other
wavelengths of light. At submillimetre wavelengths, rather than blocking
light, the dust grains shine due to their temperatures of a few tens of
degrees above absolute zero [1]. The APEX telescope with its submillimetre-
wavelength camera LABOCA, located at an altitude of 5000 metres above sea
level on the Chajnantor Plateau in the Chilean Andes, is the ideal tool for
this kind of observation.
This spectacular new picture shows just a part of a bigger complex called the
Orion Molecular Cloud, in the constellation of Orion (The Hunter). A rich
melting pot of bright nebulae, hot young stars and cold dust clouds, this
region is hundreds of light-years across and located about 1350 light-years
from us. The submillimetre-wavelength glow arising from the cold dust clouds
is _place_holder;seen in orange in this image and is overlaid on a view of
the region taken in the more familiar visible light.
The large bright cloud in the upper right of the image is the well-known Orion
Nebula, also called Messier 42. It is readily visible to the naked eye as the
slightly fuzzy middle "star" in the sword of Orion. The Orion Nebula is the
brightest part of a huge stellar nursery where new stars are being born, and
is the closest site of massive star formation to Earth.
The dust clouds form beautiful filaments, sheets, and bubbles as a result of
processes including gravitational collapse and the effects of stellar winds.
These winds are streams of gas ejected from the atmospheres of stars, which
are powerful enough to shape the surrounding clouds into the convoluted forms
seen here.
Astronomers have used these and other data from APEX along with images from
ESA's Herschel Space Observatory, to search the region of Orion for protostars
-- an early stage of star formation. They have so far been able to identify 15
objects that appeared much brighter at longer wavelengths than at shorter
wavelengths. These newly discovered rare objects are probably among the
youngest protostars ever found, bringing astronomers closer to witnessing the
moment when a star begins to form.
INFORMATION:
Notes
[1] Hotter objects give off most of their radiation at shorter wavelengths and
cooler ones at longer wavelengths. As an example very hot stars (surface
temperatures around 20 000 degrees Kelvin) look blue and cooler ones (surface
temperatures of around 3000 degrees Kelvin) look red. And a cloud of dust with
a temperature of only ten degrees Kelvin has its peak of emission at a much
longer wavelength -- around 0.3 millimetres -- in the part of the spectrum
where APEX is very sensitive.
More information
The research on protostars in this region is described in the paper "A
Herschel and APEX Census of the Reddest Sources in Orion: Searching for the
Youngest Protostars" by A. Stutz et al., in the Astrophysical Journal.
The APEX observations used in this image were led by Thomas Stanke (ESO), Tom
Megeath (University of Toledo, USA), and Amelia Stutz (Max Planck Institute
for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany). APEX is a collaboration between the Max
Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR), the Onsala Space Observatory
(OSO) and ESO. Operation of APEX at Chajnantor is entrusted to ESO.
ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the
world's most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It is
supported by 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic,
Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. ESO carries out an ambitious
programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful
ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important
scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and
organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique
world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At
Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world's most advanced
visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works
in the infrared and is the world's largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey
Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in
visible light. ESO is the European partner of a revolutionary astronomical
telescope ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. ESO is
currently planning the 39-metre European Extremely Large optical/near-infrared
Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become "the world's biggest eye on the sky".
Links
Related press releases:
[JPL] - http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-102
[MPIA] - http://www.mpia.de/Public/menu_q2e.php?Aktuelles/PR/2013/PR_2013_03/PR_2013_03_en.html
[Research paper] - http://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso1321/eso1321a.pdf
[Photos of APEX] - http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/search/?adv=&subject_name=Atacama%20Pathfinder%20Experiment
[Photos taken by APEX] - http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/search/?adv=&facility=35
Contacts
Amelia Stutz
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
Heidelberg, Germany
Tel: +49 6221 528 412
Email: stutz@mpia.de
Thomas Stanke
ESO
Garching bei München, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6116
Email: tstanke@eso.org
Richard Hook
ESO Public Information Officer
Garching bei München, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6655
Cell: +49 151 1537 3591
Email: rhook@eso.org
Orion's hidden fiery ribbon
2013-05-15
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