Credits/Producer: Greg Bacon (STScI), Frank Summers (STScI), NASA's Universe of Learning
Credits/Producer: Greg Bacon (STScI), Frank Summers (STScI), NASA's Universe of Learning
Credits/Producer: NASA's Universe of Learning
Visualization: Christian Nieves (STScI), Joseph Olmsted (STScI), Frank Summers (STScI)
Music: Christian Nieves (STScI)
It is being presented today at a special event hosted by the International Planetarium Society to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first public planetarium in Munich, Germany.
Ultraviolet light and stellar winds from the stars of NGC 3324 have carved a cavernous area within Gum 31. A portion of this giant bubble is seen above the Cosmic Cliffs. (The star cluster itself is outside this field of view.)
The Cliffs display a misty appearance, with “steam” that seems to rise from the celestial mountains. In actuality, the wisps are hot, ionized gas and dust streaming away from the nebula under an onslaught of relentless ultraviolet radiation.
Eagle-eyed viewers may also spot particularly bright, yellow streaks and arcs that represent outflows from young, still-forming stars embedded within the Cosmic Cliffs. The latter part of the visualization sequence swoops past a prominent protostellar jet in the upper right of the image.
Produced for NASA by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) with partners at Caltech/IPAC, and developed by the AstroViz Project of NASA’s Universe of Learning, this visualization is part of a longer, narrated video that provides broad audiences, including youth, families, and lifelong learners, with a direct connection to the science and scientists of NASA’s Astrophysics missions. That video enables viewers to explore fundamental questions in science, experience how science is done, and discover the universe for themselves.
“Bringing this amazing Webb image to life helps the public to comprehend the three-dimensional structure inherent in the 2D image, and to develop a better mental model of the universe,” said STScI’s Frank Summers, principal visualization scientist and leader of the AstroViz Project.
More visualizations and connections between the science of nebulas
and learners can be explored through other products produced by NASA’s
Universe of Learning including a Carina Nebula Complex resource page and ViewSpace,
a video exhibit that is currently running at almost 200 museums and
planetariums across the United States. Visitors can go beyond video to
explore the images produced by space telescopes with interactive tools
now available for museums and planetariums.
NASA’s Universe of Learning materials are based upon work supported
by NASA under award number NNX16AC65A to the Space Telescope Science
Institute, working in partnership with Caltech/IPAC, Center for
Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion
Laboratory.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science
observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking
beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious
structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an
international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space
Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
NASA’s Universe of Learning is part of the NASA Science Activation
program, from the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. The
Science Activation program connects NASA science experts, real content
and experiences, and community leaders in a way that activates minds and
promotes deeper understanding of our world and beyond. Using its direct
connection to the science and the experts behind the science, NASA’s
Universe of Learning provides resources and experiences that enable
youth, families, and lifelong learners to explore fundamental questions
in science, experience how science is done, and discover the universe
for themselves.
About This Release
Credits:
Media Contact
Christine Pulliam
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore
Permissions: Content Use Policy
Contact Us: Direct inquiries to the News Team.
