This enormous section of the Milky Way galaxy is a mosaic of images from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. The constellations Cassiopeia and Cepheus are featured in this 1,000-square degree expanse. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA
Astronomers trying to understand the formation of massive clusters of stars are getting a better idea of how the process works from the latest images and data from the WISE spacecraft. NASA’s Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer has captured a vast stretch of nearly a dozen nebulae popping with new star birth, which is helping to narrow the field of possible star-forming scenarios.
“We are trying to understand how huge clusters of stars form at the same time from a large cloud of gas,” said Xavier Koenig from Goddard Space Flight Center, speaking at a press briefing from the American Astronomical Society meeting this week. “We have two possible pictures of how this process works and WISE is helping us piece together the chain of events.”
(…)
Read the rest of Clusters of Stars Crackle and Pop to Tell the Story of Star Formation (420 words)
© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. |
Permalink |
2 comments |
Add to
del.icio.us
Post tags: star formation, Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh
{ Comments are closed! }