Orion & Sagittarius Molecular Clouds
- Spitzer image of Milky Way central region
- Orion Nebula
- Orion animation showing CO molecule light emissions
- Milky Way at near-infrared wavelengths
- Milky Way seen in light with a wavelength of 1 meter
Spitzer mid-infrared image of the central region of the Milky Way Galaxy. Dark areas in this image are dense star forming clouds (including HEXOS target Sgr B2). Filaments shown as green are the emissions of organic molecules, while the red areas denote emissions from larger silicate material called dust grains by astronomers (the Earth is made of silicates). Image credit: NASA JPL/Caltech/Univ. of Wisconsin.
Optical image of the Orion nebula (the sword of Orion). Orion is the closest region to the Sun that is forming a massive stellar cluster – the dominant mode of star formation in the galaxy. This picture shows the rich field of young stars, which are < 1 million year old stars (recall the Sun is 4.6 billion years old!). The wispy material seen in the image is starlight reflecting from tiny solids. Three of HEXOS’ targets lie in this region. Image credit: Mark McCaughrean and the European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Picture of the Orion constellation with emissions of Carbon Monoxide emission superposed. This image shows what our life would be like if our eyes where sensitive to the emission of carbon monoxide at a wavelength of 3mm. This object is well over 100 trillion miles in size and contains enough mass to make over 100,000 stars! Three of HEXOS’ targets lie in this fantastic object. Movie credit: T. Dame (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics).
Beautiful composite image of the center of the Milky Way as seen at near-infrared wavelengths. The dark lanes in this image are the dense molecular clouds, where stars are born. The bright red objects associated with the dark lanes are young stars. Image credit: 2 Micron All Sky Survey/IPAC/Caltech/Univ. of Mass.
Panoramic view of the activity in the center of the Milky Way seen in light with a wavelength of 1 meter. The long lane of bright emission denotes gas that has been heated by newly formed stars. This image highlights the amount of star formation the center of our galaxy. Two of HEXOS’ primary sources lie in this region. A ring of emission is also present which is the remnant of material that is left at the end of stellar life when a massive star goes supernova. Image credit: Kassim, LaRosa, and Hyman (NRL).