SOFIA Spots Recent Starbursts in the Milky Way Galaxy's Center | NASA
graphical representation from the SOFIA Science Center compares two infrared images of the heart of the Orion nebula captured by the FORCAST camera on the SOFIA airborne observatory's telescope with a wider image of the same area from the Spitzer space telescope. (SOFIA image - James De Buizer / NASA / DLR / USRA / DSI / FORCAST; Spitzer image - NASA/JPL) › View Larger Image
MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. - A new image from NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) shows a complex distribution of interstellar dust and stars in the Orion nebula. Interstellar dust, composed mostly of silicon, carbon and other heavy elements that astronomers refer to generically as "metals," plus some ice and organic molecules, is part of the raw material from which new stars and planets are forming.
The two insets display mid-infrared images showing portions of the Orion nebula star-forming region, also known as Messier 42 (M42). The SOFIA images were produced by SOFIA staff scientist James De Buizer and his collaborators from data obtained in May - June 2011 during the SOFIA's Basic Science program. The observations were made using the Faint Object Infrared Camera for the SOFIA Telescope (FORCAST) instrument, led by principal investigator Terry Herter of Cornell University. Those observations are subjects of scientific papers to be submitted to The Astrophysical Journal.
The SOFIA's large telescope is able to resolve many individual protostars and young stars as well as knots of dust and gas that could be starting the process of gravitational contraction to become stars. The massive protostar known famously as the BN (Becklin-Neugebauer) Object stands out as the individual blue source in the red inset box. The BN/KL region of Orion gets its name from the initials of pioneering infrared astronomers Eric Becklin, Gerry Neugebauer, Doug Kleinmann and Frank Low who mapped it in the late 1960s and early 1970s, using some of the first astronomical infrared detectors. In this image, infrared light with wavelengths of 20, 31, and 37 microns, symbolized respectively by blue, green and red, is seen coming from relatively cool interstellar dust with temperatures of approximately 100 - 200 kelvins.
The SOFIA image in the blue inset box shows the Ney-Allen Nebula, a region of intense infrared emission that was discovered surrounding the luminous Trapezium stars by astronomers Ed Ney and David Allen. Some of the compact features shown here are disks of dust and gas around young solar-mass stars that could be planetary systems in the process of formation. In this image, blue, green and red respectively symbolize infrared light with wavelengths of 8, 20, and 37 microns, coming from material as warm as 500 kelvins (450 F).
The large background image is a composite of data from the Spitzer Space Telescope in which light with wavelengths of 7.9, 4.5, and 3.6 microns (represented respectively by red, green and blue) is emitted from hot dust and gas heated by embedded stars, and from the stars themselves. The BN/KL region is so bright as to be over-exposed in the Spitzer image.
The two SOFIA images were made at combinations of wavelengths and angular resolutions unavailable to any other observatory on the ground or in space. The SOFIA and Spitzer images of Orion together provide a comprehensive view of stages of star formation from cold interstellar clouds to fully-fledged stars.
The SOFIA airborne observatory incorporates a 17-ton reflecting telescope with an effective diameter of 2.5 meters (100 inches) mounted inside an extensively modified Boeing 747SP. The SOFIA aircraft flies at altitudes as high as 45,000 feet (14 km), above more than 99 percent of the water vapor in Earth's atmosphere that blocks most infrared radiation from celestial sources.
The SOFIA is a joint program of NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and is based and managed at NASA's Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif. NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., manages the SOFIA science and mission operations in cooperation with the Universities Space Research Association (USRA), headquartered in Columbia, Md., and the German SOFIA Institute (DSI) at the University of Stuttgart.
For more information about the SOFIA, visit:
MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. - A new image from NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) shows a complex distribution of interstellar dust and stars in the Orion nebula. Interstellar dust, composed mostly of silicon, carbon and other heavy elements that astronomers refer to generically as "metals," plus some ice and organic molecules, is part of the raw material from which new stars and planets are forming.
The two insets display mid-infrared images showing portions of the Orion nebula star-forming region, also known as Messier 42 (M42). The SOFIA images were produced by SOFIA staff scientist James De Buizer and his collaborators from data obtained in May - June 2011 during the SOFIA's Basic Science program. The observations were made using the Faint Object Infrared Camera for the SOFIA Telescope (FORCAST) instrument, led by principal investigator Terry Herter of Cornell University. Those observations are subjects of scientific papers to be submitted to The Astrophysical Journal.
The SOFIA's large telescope is able to resolve many individual protostars and young stars as well as knots of dust and gas that could be starting the process of gravitational contraction to become stars. The massive protostar known famously as the BN (Becklin-Neugebauer) Object stands out as the individual blue source in the red inset box. The BN/KL region of Orion gets its name from the initials of pioneering infrared astronomers Eric Becklin, Gerry Neugebauer, Doug Kleinmann and Frank Low who mapped it in the late 1960s and early 1970s, using some of the first astronomical infrared detectors. In this image, infrared light with wavelengths of 20, 31, and 37 microns, symbolized respectively by blue, green and red, is seen coming from relatively cool interstellar dust with temperatures of approximately 100 - 200 kelvins.
The SOFIA image in the blue inset box shows the Ney-Allen Nebula, a region of intense infrared emission that was discovered surrounding the luminous Trapezium stars by astronomers Ed Ney and David Allen. Some of the compact features shown here are disks of dust and gas around young solar-mass stars that could be planetary systems in the process of formation. In this image, blue, green and red respectively symbolize infrared light with wavelengths of 8, 20, and 37 microns, coming from material as warm as 500 kelvins (450 F).
The large background image is a composite of data from the Spitzer Space Telescope in which light with wavelengths of 7.9, 4.5, and 3.6 microns (represented respectively by red, green and blue) is emitted from hot dust and gas heated by embedded stars, and from the stars themselves. The BN/KL region is so bright as to be over-exposed in the Spitzer image.
The two SOFIA images were made at combinations of wavelengths and angular resolutions unavailable to any other observatory on the ground or in space. The SOFIA and Spitzer images of Orion together provide a comprehensive view of stages of star formation from cold interstellar clouds to fully-fledged stars.
The SOFIA airborne observatory incorporates a 17-ton reflecting telescope with an effective diameter of 2.5 meters (100 inches) mounted inside an extensively modified Boeing 747SP. The SOFIA aircraft flies at altitudes as high as 45,000 feet (14 km), above more than 99 percent of the water vapor in Earth's atmosphere that blocks most infrared radiation from celestial sources.
The SOFIA is a joint program of NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and is based and managed at NASA's Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif. NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., manages the SOFIA science and mission operations in cooperation with the Universities Space Research Association (USRA), headquartered in Columbia, Md., and the German SOFIA Institute (DSI) at the University of Stuttgart.
For more information about the SOFIA, visit:
For information about SOFIA's science mission, visit:
nota al margen ► Sofia (Σoφíα, en griego "sabiduría") es un término fundamental dentro de la filosofía helenística y su religión, como también en el platonismo,gnosticismo, cristianismo ortodoxo, cristianismo esotérico, y en el cristianismo místico. La sofiología es un concepto filosófico relacionado con lasabiduría, como también un concepto teológico relacionado con la sabiduría de Dios.
Sofía es una de las cuatro virtudes cardinales en el Protágoras de Platón . El oráculo de Pitia en forma repetida respondía a la pregunta "quién es el hombre más sabio de Grecia?" contestando "Sócrates!" Sócrates defendió esta respuesta en su Apología en el sentido en que él, por lo menos, sabe que él no sabe nada.
el dispensador dice:
cuando crees ser todo,
en verdad no eres nada,
apenas un viajero en el tiempo,
contemplando circunstancias,
que se acercan y se alejan,
de la que siempre se toma distancia,
y cuando en verdad pasa,
deja huellas en el alma...
debes comprender que andas de paso,
aquí, allá, o en cualquier lado,
vienes siguiendo tus propios pasos,
aprendiendo de aquello que llamas "fracasos",
que son en realidad los que aprueban,
como valorar lo que se te ha dado,
antes de haber perdido,
después de haberlo hallado...
la estirpe viene desde lejos,
andando, andando, andando,
poco va sobrellevando,
lo que en sus espaldas ha cargado,
muchas veces sin asumir,
que no se puede vivir del pasado,
que es necesario andar silencio,
observando y reflexionando,
porque lo que se pierde en palabras,
se estrella contra lo pronunciado,
y aunque parezca mentira,
esto ocurre aquí,
allá, o en cualquier otro lado...
soy un viajero de mi tiempo,
que sin tiempo anda viajando,
he aprendido que la nada existe,
comprendida en cualquier pasado,
y que es mejor dejarla atrás,
que a ella permanecer atado,
ya que cuando ello sucede,
eres tú el que permanece prendado,
invocando lo que ha sido,
y que jamás fue valorado...
por ello debes tener a mano,
inocencia, humildad, y silencio "alado",
ya que de ángeles se trata,
cruzar este universo dado.
MARZO 19, 2014.-
SOFIA/FORCAST mid-infrared image of the Milky Way galaxy's nucleus showing the Circumnuclear Ring (CNR) of gas and dust clouds orbiting a central supermassive black hole. The bright Y-shaped feature is believed to be material falling from the ring toward the black hole that is located where the arms of the "Y" intersect. (NASA/SOFIA/FORCAST team/Lau et al. ) › View Larger Image
Hubble Space Telescope/NICMOS near-infrared image showing the same field of view with the same scale and orientation as the image above. At this wavelength, opaque dust in the plane of the Milky Way hides features that are seen in the SOFIA image. (NASA/STScI) › View Larger Image
SOFIA/FORCAST mid-infrared image of a region including the Quintuple Cluster (QC), a group of young stars near the left margin of the frame, located about 35 parsecs (100 light years) from the galaxy's nucleus. (NASA/SOFIA/Hankins et al.) › View Larger Image
Hubble Space Telescope/NICMOS image of the QC region matching the SOFIA/FORCAST field of view in the third image above. The QC itself is at the left of the frame. Most of the features in the SOFIA mid-infrared image are not seen in the HST image due to their low temperatures and intervening interstellar dust. (NASA/STScI) › View Larger Image
WASHINGTON - Researchers using the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) have captured new images of a ring of gas and dust seven light-years in diameter surrounding the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, and of a neighboring cluster of extremely luminous young stars embedded in dust cocoons.
The images of our galaxy's circumnuclear ring (CNR) and its neighboring quintuplet cluster (QC) are the subjects of two posters presented this week during the American Astronomical Society's meeting in Long Beach, Calif. Ryan Lau of Cornell University and his collaborators studied the CNR. Matt Hankins of the University of Central Arkansas in Conway is lead author of the other paper, regarding the QC.
SOFIA is a highly modified Boeing 747SP aircraft carrying a telescope with an effective diameter of 100 inches (2.54 meters) to altitudes as high as 45,000 feet (13.7 kilometers).
The images were obtained during SOFIA flights in 2011 with the Faint Object Infrared Camera for the SOFIA Telescope (FORCAST) instrument built by a team with principal investigator Terry Herter of Cornell.
FORCAST offered astronomers the ability to see the CNR and QC regions and other exotic cosmic features whose light is obscured by water vapor in Earth's atmosphere and interstellar dust clouds in the mid-plane of the Milky Way. Neither ground-based observatories on tall mountain peaks nor NASA's orbiting Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes can see them.
The images may be seen by visiting:
The images of our galaxy's circumnuclear ring (CNR) and its neighboring quintuplet cluster (QC) are the subjects of two posters presented this week during the American Astronomical Society's meeting in Long Beach, Calif. Ryan Lau of Cornell University and his collaborators studied the CNR. Matt Hankins of the University of Central Arkansas in Conway is lead author of the other paper, regarding the QC.
SOFIA is a highly modified Boeing 747SP aircraft carrying a telescope with an effective diameter of 100 inches (2.54 meters) to altitudes as high as 45,000 feet (13.7 kilometers).
The images were obtained during SOFIA flights in 2011 with the Faint Object Infrared Camera for the SOFIA Telescope (FORCAST) instrument built by a team with principal investigator Terry Herter of Cornell.
FORCAST offered astronomers the ability to see the CNR and QC regions and other exotic cosmic features whose light is obscured by water vapor in Earth's atmosphere and interstellar dust clouds in the mid-plane of the Milky Way. Neither ground-based observatories on tall mountain peaks nor NASA's orbiting Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes can see them.
The images may be seen by visiting:
Each image is a combination of multiple exposures at wavelengths of 20, 32, and 37 microns.
Figure 1a shows the CNR and Figure 2a shows the QC. The CNR and other exotic features revealed by SOFIA's FORCAST camera are invisible to Hubble's near-infrared camera, as shown for comparison in figures 1b and 2b. Figure 3 shows the two fields studied in these papers as square insets on a large-scale image of the galactic center made by the Spitzer Space Telescope at a wavelength of 8 microns.
"The focus of our study has been to determine the structure of the circumnuclear ring with the unprecedented precision possible with SOFIA" said Lau. "Using these data we can learn about the processes that accelerate and heat the ring."
The nucleus of the Milky Way is inhabited by a black hole with 4 million times the mass of the sun and is orbited by a large disk of gas and dust. The ring seen in Figure 1a is the inner edge of that disk. The galactic center also hosts several exceptionally large star clusters containing some of the most luminous young stars in the galaxy, one of which is the Quintuplet Cluster seen in Figure 2. The combination of SOFIA's airborne telescope with the FORCAST camera produced the sharpest images of those regions ever obtained at mid-infrared wavelengths, allowing discernment of new clues about what is happening near the central black hole.
"Something big happened in the Milky Way's center within the past 4 million to 6 million years which resulted in several bursts of star formation, creating the Quintuplet Cluster, the Central Cluster, and one other massive star cluster." said Hankins, lead author of the QC paper. "Many other galaxies also have so-called 'starbursts' in their central regions, some associated with central black holes, some not. The Milky Way's center is much nearer than other galaxies, making it easier for us to explore possible connections between the starbursts and the black hole."
SOFIA Chief Scientific Advisor Eric Becklin, who is working with the CNR group, determined the location of the galaxy's nucleus as a graduate student in the 1960s by laboriously scanning a single-pixel infrared detector to map the central region.
"The resolution and spatial coverage of these images is astounding, showing what modern infrared detector arrays can do when flown on SOFIA," Becklin said. "We hope to use these data to substantially advance our understanding of the environment near a supermassive black hole."
SOFIA is a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center. SOFIA is based and managed at NASA's Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif. NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., manages the SOFIA science and mission operations in cooperation with the Universities Space Research Association headquartered in Columbia, Md., and the German SOFIA Institute at the University of Stuttgart.
For information about SOFIA and its science mission, visit:
Figure 1a shows the CNR and Figure 2a shows the QC. The CNR and other exotic features revealed by SOFIA's FORCAST camera are invisible to Hubble's near-infrared camera, as shown for comparison in figures 1b and 2b. Figure 3 shows the two fields studied in these papers as square insets on a large-scale image of the galactic center made by the Spitzer Space Telescope at a wavelength of 8 microns.
"The focus of our study has been to determine the structure of the circumnuclear ring with the unprecedented precision possible with SOFIA" said Lau. "Using these data we can learn about the processes that accelerate and heat the ring."
The nucleus of the Milky Way is inhabited by a black hole with 4 million times the mass of the sun and is orbited by a large disk of gas and dust. The ring seen in Figure 1a is the inner edge of that disk. The galactic center also hosts several exceptionally large star clusters containing some of the most luminous young stars in the galaxy, one of which is the Quintuplet Cluster seen in Figure 2. The combination of SOFIA's airborne telescope with the FORCAST camera produced the sharpest images of those regions ever obtained at mid-infrared wavelengths, allowing discernment of new clues about what is happening near the central black hole.
"Something big happened in the Milky Way's center within the past 4 million to 6 million years which resulted in several bursts of star formation, creating the Quintuplet Cluster, the Central Cluster, and one other massive star cluster." said Hankins, lead author of the QC paper. "Many other galaxies also have so-called 'starbursts' in their central regions, some associated with central black holes, some not. The Milky Way's center is much nearer than other galaxies, making it easier for us to explore possible connections between the starbursts and the black hole."
SOFIA Chief Scientific Advisor Eric Becklin, who is working with the CNR group, determined the location of the galaxy's nucleus as a graduate student in the 1960s by laboriously scanning a single-pixel infrared detector to map the central region.
"The resolution and spatial coverage of these images is astounding, showing what modern infrared detector arrays can do when flown on SOFIA," Becklin said. "We hope to use these data to substantially advance our understanding of the environment near a supermassive black hole."
SOFIA is a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center. SOFIA is based and managed at NASA's Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif. NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., manages the SOFIA science and mission operations in cooperation with the Universities Space Research Association headquartered in Columbia, Md., and the German SOFIA Institute at the University of Stuttgart.
For information about SOFIA and its science mission, visit:
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