Figure 1
Stellar Snowflake Cluster Combined Image
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Figure 2 Infrared Array Camera | Figure 3 Multiband Imaging Photometer |
Newborn stars, hidden behind thick dust, are revealed in this image of a
section of the Christmas Tree cluster from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope,
created in joint effort between Spitzer's infrared array camera and
multiband imaging photometer instruments.
The newly revealed infant stars appear as pink and red specks toward the
center of the combined image (fig. 1). The stars appear to have formed in
regularly spaced intervals along linear structures in a configuration that
resembles the spokes of a wheel or the pattern of a snowflake. Hence,
astronomers have nicknamed this the "Snowflake" cluster.
Star-forming clouds like this one are dynamic and evolving structures.
Since the stars trace the straight line pattern of spokes of a wheel,
scientists believe that these are newborn stars, or "protostars." At a
mere 100,000 years old, these infant structures have yet to "crawl" away
from their location of birth. Over time, the natural drifting motions of
each star will break this order, and the snowflake design will be no more.
While most of the visible-light stars that give the Christmas Tree cluster
its name and triangular shape do not shine brightly in Spitzer's infrared
eyes, all of the stars forming from this dusty cloud are considered part
of the cluster.
Like a dusty cosmic finger pointing up to the newborn clusters, Spitzer
also illuminates the optically dark and dense Cone nebula, the tip of
which can be seen towards the bottom left corner of each image.
This combined image shows the presence of organic molecules
mixed with dust as wisps of green, which have been illuminated by nearby
star formation. The larger yellowish dots neighboring the baby red stars
in the Snowflake Cluster are massive stellar infants forming from the same
cloud. The blue dots sprinkled across the image represent older Milky Way
stars at various distances along this line of sight. This image is a
five-channel, false-color composite, showing emission from wavelengths of
3.6 and 4.5 microns (blue), 5.8 microns (cyan), 8 microns (green), and 24
microns (red).
The top right (fig. 2) image from the infrared array camera show that the
nebula is still actively forming stars. The wisps of red (represented as
green in the combined image) are organic molecules mixed with dust, which
has been illuminated by nearby star formation. The infrared array camera
picture is a four-channel, false-color composite, showing emission from
wavelengths of 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns
(orange) and 8.0 microns (red).
The bottom right image (fig. 3) from the multiband imaging photometer
shows the colder dust of the nebula and unwraps the youngest stellar
babies from their dusty covering. This is a false-color image showing
emission at 24 microns (red).