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Movie |
If our galaxy, the Milky Way, were to host its own version of the
Olympics, the title for the brightest known star would go to a massive
star called Eta Carina. However, a new runner-up—now the
second-brightest star in our galaxy—has been discovered in the
galaxy's dusty and frenzied interior. This image from NASA's Spitzer Space
Telescope shows the new silver medalist, circled in the inset above, in
the central region of our Milky Way.
Dubbed the 'Peony nebula' star, this blazing ball of gas shines with the
equivalent light of 3.2 million suns. The reigning champ, Eta Carina,
produces the equivalent of 4.7 million suns worth of light—though
astronomers say these estimates are uncertain, and it's possible that the
Peony nebula star could be even brighter than Eta Carina.
If the Peony star is so bright, why doesn't it stand out more in this
view? The answer is dust. This star is located in a very dusty region jam
packed with stars. In fact, there could be other super bright stars still
hidden deep in the stellar crowd. Spitzer's infrared eyes allowed it to
pierce the dust and assess the Peony nebula star's true brightness.
Likewise, infrared data from the European Southern Observatory's New
Technology Telescope in Chile were integral in calculating the Peony
nebula star's luminosity.
The Peony nebula, which surrounds the Peony nebular star, is the reddish
cloud of dust in and around the white circle.
The movie begins by showing a stretch of the dusty and frenzied central
region of our Milky Way galaxy. It then zooms in to reveal the "Peony
nebula" star—the new second-brightest star in the Milky Way,
discovered in part by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
This is a three-color composite showing infrared observations from two
Spitzer instruments. Blue represents 3.6-micron light and green shows
light of 8 microns, both captured by Spitzer's infrared array camera. Red
is 24-micron light detected by Spitzer's multiband imaging photometer.
