NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy – SOFIA for short – has opened a new window on star formation in and around the nebula Messier 42 in the constellation Orion.
The new image data were acquired using the Faint Object Infrared Camera for the SOFIA Telescope — or FORCAST — during SOFIA’s Short Science 1 observing program in December 2010.
Details of the observation were recently released at the 217th meeting of the American Astronomical Society held in Seattle, Washington.
What’s so special about SOFIA’s view is that it combines images at mid-infrared wavelengths of 19.7 microns (green) and 37.1 microns (red). The latter wavelength cannot be accessed by any telescope on the ground or currently in space.
Thanks to the SOFIA observations, detailed structures in the clouds of star construction material can be seen, as well as warm clouds of dust and gas surrounding, and partly obscuring, a cluster of luminous newborn stars.
As a world-class airborne observatory, SOFIA’s high-flying views of the universe will complement the Hubble, Spitzer, Herschel and James Webb space telescopes and major Earth-based telescopes.
SOFIA is a joint program by NASA and DLR Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt (German Aerospace Center).
SOFIA’s 100-inch (2.5-meter) diameter reflecting telescope will provide astronomers with access to the visible, infrared and sub-millimeter spectrum, with optimized performance in the mid-infrared to sub-millimeter range.
During SOFIA’s 20-year expected lifetime it will be capable of “Great Observatory”– class astronomical science.
SOFIA’s mid-infrared image of Messier 42 — plus comparison images of the same region made at other wavelengths by other observatories — are available online.
Take a look at:
By LD/CSE