Let there be light: Herschel telescope images show birth of stars 1,000 light years from Earth
By Wil Longbottom
18th December 2009

 

This amazing image taken from the recently launched Herschel telescope shows the birth of up to 700 stars 1,000 light years from Earth. Released by the European Space Agency, the previously unseen stellar nursery has been described as among the most important images obtained from space in decades. Astronomers hope that by analysing these images they will be able to answer questions about how stars and galaxies are made.

 

 

The image, taken using two of Herschel's instruments, shows a dark cloud 1,000 light years away in the constellation Aquila, or the Eagle. It covers an area 65 light years across and is so shrouded in dust that no previous infrared satellite has been able to see into it. Thanks to Herschel's superior sensitivity at the longest infrared wavelengths, astronomers are able to get their first picture of the interior of this cloud and previously invisible 'stardust'. This is what galaxies, stars, planets and all life is made from and can help scientists follow the life cycle of the cosmos.

Bruce Swinyard, from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, is a member of the research team which designed Herschel's Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver, one of three instruments which provide the telescope's 'eyes'. The telescope's infrared capability allows it to look deep into space at galaxies which thrived when the Universe was roughly half to a fifth of its present age. This is a period in cosmic history when it is thought star formation was at its most prolific.

Professor Swinyard told the BBC that by looking at 'young galaxies', Herschel is able to reveal some of the history of star formation. He said that the thousands of galaxies the telescope had detected would allow researchers to test models of galaxy formation, and to uncover the chemical processes that make stardust.





Article: HERE