Graphics

Una Incubadora Estelar

La galaxia con formación estelar explosiva NGC 1313 es una incubadora estelar dedicada a crear estrellas en una escala raramente vista en una galaxia de su tipo. Tal como fuera captada por el telescopio de 8 metros de Gemini Sur en Chile, una multitud de nubes coloridas de gas brillan desde los brazos de la galaxia espiral - como una prueba de que esta maravilla extragaláctica es una prolífica fábrica de estrellas. 

A Stellar Incubator

Starburst galaxy NGC 1313 is a stellar incubator delivering stars on a scale rarely seen in a single galaxy of its size. As imaged by the Gemini South 8-meter telescope in Chile, a multitude of colorful gas clouds blaze forth from the galaxy’s spiral arms — a tell-tale sign that this extragalactic wonder is a prolific star factory. 

Located some 15 million light years away, NGC 1313 is a late-type barred spiral galaxy. It is a relatively close galactic neighbor to the Milky Way and has a mysterious past. 

Star-birth “Fireworks”

This Gemini North telescope image reveals no less than six gas jets emerging at supersonic speeds from the reddish Herbig-Haro 24 (HH 24) complex — a small cluster of young stars embedded in a molecular cloud some 1,300 light years distant in the direction of the constellation Orion. It is the most detailed image ever obtained from the ground of this remarkable region, which contains the highest concentration of gas jets known. Many of the jets show clear evidence of wiggling, suggesting that in each case the source may be a close binary whose orbit perturbs the jet. 

Luz de la Oscuridad

Millones de años atrás, una nube oscura de polvo a 5.500 años luz del Sol se compactó para comenzar el proceso del nacimiento de una estrella. Hoy, alrededor de 190 millones de años después, la región está ardiendo con jóvenes estrellas masivas y calientes ubicadas ordenadamente en un cúmulo en forma de semillas de diente de león, el cual ahora denominamos como NGC 6520.

Light from Dark

 

Millions of years ago, a dark cloud of dust about 5,500 light years from the Sun coalesced to begin the process of star birth. Today, some 190 million years later, the region is ablaze with hot, massive young stars arrayed in a dandelion-seed-shaped cluster, which we now call NGC 6520. Not far away lies (with a little imagination) the gecko-shaped dark remains of what may be the cluster’s birth cloud, Barnard 86 (B 86). 

A Moonlit Giant

This stunning photograph, taken with a fish-eye lens from inside the Gemini South dome, shows the telescope in its altazimuth mount, pointing just high enough so that its giant 8-meter primary mirror is visible. 

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