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This visualization explores the Orion Nebula using both visible-light observations from the Hubble Space Telescope and infrared-light observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope. The contrast between visible and infrared views of the nebula are examined using two spatially matched three-dimensional models.

As the camera flies into the star-forming region, the sequence cross-fades back and forth between the visible and infrared views. The glowing gaseous landscape has been illuminated and carved by the high-energy radiation and strong stellar winds from the massive hot stars in the central cluster. The infrared observations generally show cooler temperature gas at a deeper layer of the nebula that extends well beyond the visible image. In addition, the infrared showcases many faint stars that shine primarily at longer wavelengths. The higher resolution visible observations show finer details including the wispy bow shocks and tadpole-shaped proplyds. In this manner, the movie illustrates the contrasting features uncovered by multi-wavelength astronomy.

Credits: NASA, ESA, F. Summers, G. Bacon, Z. Levay, J. DePasquale, L. Hustak, L. Frattare, M. Robberto and M. Gennaro (STScI), R. Hurt (Caltech/IPAC)

Acknowledgement: R. Gendler

Music: “Dvorak – Serenade for Strings Op22 in E Major larghetto”, performed by The Advent Chamber Orchestra, CC BY-SA

Herbig Haro 666 is a young star that is shooting out narrow collimated jets in opposite directions. The jets are a byproduct of material falling onto to the star. The material is heated and then escapes along the star’s spin axis. Blazing across space at 200,000 miles per hour, the jets provide a way for the star to slow its spin by carrying off angular momentum. The star is hidden deep within the obscuring cloud of gas and dust shown in the Hubble visible-light image. In Hubble’s infrared view, the cloud mostly disappears, revealing the stars within. The jets will extend out to a light-year before dissipating. Jets are a dramatic example of the interaction between stars and the gas and dust that surrounds them.

Video: NASA, ESA, G. Bacon (STScI)
Image: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team (STScI)

How does a car tire react to a whole bunch of hubba bubba bubble gum? I covered a Samsung Galaxy S9 in the chewing gum and took it out for a spin!

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The Crab Nebula (Messier 1) is the remnant of a supernova that exploded in the year 1054 AD. This mysterious “new star,” as early skywatchers called it, was observed around the world and most notably recorded by Chinese astronomers. The supernova was triggered when the progenitor star abruptly collapsed onto its iron core, and rebounded to expel most of its layers of gas into a blast wave. This wave is seen as an optical and infrared set of filaments that continues to impact surrounding material. This material was expelled from the dying red giant progenitor star 20,000 years prior to the supernova. The ultra-dense remnant core, called a neutron star, is crushed to the size of a city. Spinning furiously, the neutron star sends out twin beams of radiation, like a lighthouse. A lot of this energy comes from the neutron star’s intense magnetic fields.

The initial radio image (from the Very Large Array Radio Telescope) shows the cool gas and dust blown out by the supernova winds. The infrared (Spitzer) image shows synchrotron radiation, an unusual form of light produced by electrons trapped in magnetic fields. The infrared image also shows hot gas. The visible-light image (Hubble) shows the detailed filamentary structure of the blast wave as it impacts the surrounding material. The ultraviolet image (XMM-Newton) shows hot, ionized gas. Finally, the X-ray emission (Chandra) from high-energy particles ejected from the pulsar shows the expanding nebula. The bipolar structure represents a powerful jet of material funneled along the neutron star’s spin axis.

Video: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)
Radio image: VLA/NRAO/AUI/NSF
Infrared image: NASA/Spitzer/JPL-Caltech
Optical image: NASA, ESA, and Hubble (STScI)
UltraViolet image: XMM-Newton/ESA
X-ray image: NASA/Chandra/CXC

Gravitational Wave Astronomy
Andrew Fruchter, Space Telescope Science Institute

The 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for the observation of gravitational waves. This new field transforms our ability to study the universe. For the first time, we can directly observe the mergers of binaries composed of the densest macroscopic objects in the universe—black holes and neutron stars. The results are revolutionary. We have discovered stellar mass black holes far larger than any previously known, and have seen them merge to form even larger black holes. We have seen evidence that neutron star mergers are a major source of the heavy elements in the universe. Dr. Fruchter will provide an introduction to the technology and physics behind the detection of gravitational waves as well as discuss the exciting new results.

Host: Dr. Frank Summers

Recorded live on Tuesday, May 1 at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.

More information: http://hubble.stsci.edu/about_us/public_talks/

This video compares the colorful Hubble Space Telescope visible-light image of the core of the Lagoon Nebula and a Hubble infrared-light view of the same region.

This visible-light image of the central region of the Lagoon nebula reveals a fantasy landscape of ridges, canyons, pillars, and mountains of gas and dust surrounding a very hot newborn star. When the visible view crossfades into an image taken in near-infrared light, the most obvious difference is the abundance of stars that fill the field of view. Most of them are more distant, background stars located behind the nebula itself. However, some of these pinpricks of light are young stars within the Lagoon Nebula. Only the densest of the gas clouds remain in the infrared view.

Video: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)
Optical and Infrared images: NASA, ESA, and STScI

NGC 2207 is a pair of colliding spiral galaxies. Their bright central nuclei resemble a striking set of eyes. In visible light, trails of stars and gas trace out spiral arms, stretched by the tidal pull between the galaxies. When seen in infrared light (IR), the glow of warm dust appears. This dust is the raw material for the creation of new stars and planets. Complementary to the IR, the X-ray view reveals areas of active star formation and the birth of super star clusters. Though individual stars are too far apart to collide, the material between the stars merges to create high-density pockets of gas. These regions gravitationally collapse to trigger a firestorm of starbirth. The galaxy collision will go on for several millions of years, leaving the galaxies completely altered in terms of their shapes.

Video Credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)
Optical image: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI)
X-ray image: NASA/CXC/SAO/S. Mineo et al
Infrared image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

In May, the stars and galaxies of Virgo and Canes Venatici, the full disc of Jupiter, and the Eta Aquarid meteor shower are all on view in the Northern Hemisphere.

“Tonight’s Sky” is produced by HubbleSite.org, online home of the Hubble Space Telescope. This is a recurring show, and you can find more episodes—and other astronomy videos—at http://hubblesite.org/videos/science

This video zooms into the core of a rich star-birth region called the Lagoon Nebula, located in the constellation Sagittarius in the direction of our Milky Way galaxy’s central bulge. The sequence then dissolves to a series of imagined three-dimensional flights past striking structures of this gaseous landscape. Viewers examine dark, dusty clouds silhouetted against a colorful background of luminous gas that has been heated by a massive star. Pillars of dense gas and bow shocks around newborn stars are shaped by the strong winds from the brightest stars. The intense high-energy emission from these same stars creates the glowing ridges of gas in ionization fronts. These features are some of the highlights of this vibrant region where new stars and planets are born.

Credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon, D. Player, J. DePasquale, F. Summers, and Z. Levay (STScI)
Music: J. DePasquale
Acknowledgement: A. Fujii, Digitized Sky Survey, ESO/VPHAS, and R. Crisp

Publication: April 19, 2018