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| NASA/JPL-Caltech/K. Gordon (Space Telescope Science Institute) and SINGS Team |
Our Galactic Neighbors
The "lifestyles" of 75 neighboring galaxies are illuminated in this poster from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
In this composite, blue colors reveal light from an older population of stars. Tints of green represent organic molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, while red lumps show clouds of warm dust and gas heated by radiation from newborn stars.
The galaxies are organized by shape, according to the Hubble-Tuning Fork.
In this structure, elliptical galaxies sit on the left side of the poster, creating the tuning fork's handle. They are designated by the letter "E", and given a number from zero to seven. An "E0" galaxy looks round, while an E7 galaxy is very long and thin.
Spiral galaxies are located to the right side of the poster creating the fork's two prongs. The top prong is made up of regular spiral galaxies, and identified by the letter "S." Barred spiral galaxies make up the bottom prong, and are branded "SB." Meanwhile, letters – "a", "b", and "c" – indicate how tightly the spiral arms are wound. An "Sa" galaxy's arms are wound very tightly, while an "Sc" galaxy's spiral arms are very loosely wound.
Irregular galaxies are organized on bottom-left side of the poster because they were not represented in Hubble's original Tuning Fork.
The galaxies in this poster are three-color composites where blue depicts the galaxies at a light wavelength of 3.6 microns, while 8.0 microns is green, and 24 microns is red.
These galactic portraits were collected as part of the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Legacy project (SINGS).
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| About the Object (1) | | Object type: | Galaxies |
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About the Data
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Spitzer Data
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| Image Credit: | NASA/JPL-Caltech/K. Gordon (Space Telescope Science Institute) and SINGS Team | | Instrument: | IRAC + MIPS | | Wavelength: | 3.6 microns (blue), 8.0 microns (green), and 24 microns (red) | | Release Date: | 2007/12/14 |
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Observers
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Lee Armus (Spitzer Science Center)
George Bendo (Imperial College London, UK)
Caroline Bot (California Institute of Technology)
Brent Buckalew (California Institute of Technology)
Daniela Calzetti (Space Telescope Science Institute)
John Cannon (Wesleyan)
Daniel Dale (University of Wyoming)
Bruce Draine (Princeton University)
Charles Engelbracht (University of Arizona)
Albert Grauer (University of Arkansas)
George Helou (Spitzer Science Center)
David Hollenbach (NASA Ames Research Center)
Tom Jarrett (Spitzer Science Center)
Lisa Kewley (University of Hawaii)
Claus Leitherer (Space Telescope Science Institute)
Aigen Li (University of Missouri)
Sangeeta Malhotra (Arizona State University)
Martin Meyer (Space Telescope Science Institute)
John Moustakas (New York University)
Eric Murphy (Spitzer Science Center)
Michael Regan (Space Telescope Science Institute)
George Rieke (University of Arizona)
Marcia Rieke (University of Arizona)
Helene Roussel (Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie)
Kartik Sheth (Spitzer Science Center)
J.D. Smith (University of Arizona)
Michele Thornley (Bucknell University)
Fabian Walter (Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie) |
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