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(IAAC) Fwd: A Giant Star Factor In Neighboring Galaxy NGC 6822
Not a very TIMELY announcement for us amateurs. (I wonder if
the pros actually realize that this object is only abour 40
degrees from the Sun right now?)
But still, this is fascinating stuff... Is there any record
of amateur observation of these "Hubble" HII regions in the
famous Barnard Galaxy? If not, maybe folks with big dobs &
dark skies should mark their observing calendars for Summer?
Clear skies and challenging observing lists, :)
Lew Gramer
------- Forwarded Message
From: Ron Baalke <baalke@zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
Subject: A Giant Star Factor In Neighboring Galaxy NGC 6822
To: astro-l@uwwvax.uww.edu (Astronomy List)
Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2001 08:43:18 -0800 (PST)
FOR RELEASE: December 6, 2001
PHOTO NO.: STScI-PRC01-39
A GIANT STAR FACTORY IN NEIGHBORING GALAXY NGC 6822
Resembling curling flames from a campfire, this magnificent
nebula in a neighboring galaxy is giving astronomers new insight
into the fierce birth of stars as it may have more commonly
happened in the early universe. The glowing gas cloud, called
Hubble-V, has a diameter of about 200 light-years. A faint tail
of nebulosity trailing off the top of the image sits opposite a
dense cluster of bright stars at the bottom of the irregularly
shaped nebula. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope's resolution and
ultraviolet sensitivity reveals a dense knot of dozens of ultra-hot
stars nestled in the nebula, each glowing 100,000 times brighter
than our Sun. These youthful 4-million-year-old stars are too
distant and crowded together to be resolved from ground-based
telescopes. The small, irregular host galaxy, called NGC 6822,
is one of the Milky Way's closest neighbors and is considered
prototypical of the earliest fragmentary galaxies that inhabited
the young universe. The galaxy is 1.6 million light-years away in
the constellation Sagittarius.
The Hubble-V image data was taken with Hubble's Wide Field
Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) by two science teams: C. Robert O'Dell
of Vanderbilt University and collaborators, and Luciana Bianchi
of Johns Hopkins University and Osservatorio Astronomico, Torinese,
Italy, and collaborators. This color image was produced by The
Hubble Heritage Team (STScI). A Hubble image of Hubble-X, another
intense star-forming region in NGC 6822, was released by The
Heritage Team in January 2001.
Credits: NASA, ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Acknowledgment: C. R. O'Dell (Vanderbilt University) and
L. Bianchi (Johns Hopkins University and Osservatorio
Astronomico, Torinese, Italy)
To see and read more about Hubble-V, please click on:
http://heritage.stsci.edu
http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/2001/39 and links in
http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/latest.html
http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pictures.html and
http://hubble.stsci.edu/go/news
The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is operated by the
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA),
for NASA, under contract with the Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, MD. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of
international co-operation between NASA and the European Space
Agency (ESA).
------- End of Forwarded Message
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