Hi everyone! We're hard at work trying to keep our community clean, so if you see any spam, please report it here and we'll review ASAP! Thanks a million!
The perfectly picturesque spiral galaxy known as Messier 81, or M81, looks sharp in this new composite from NASA's Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes and NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer. M81 is a "grand design" spiral galaxy, which means its elegant arms curl all the way down into its center. It is located about 12 million light-years away in the Ursa Major constellation and is one of the brightest galaxies that can be seen from Earth through telescopes.
The colors in this picture represent a trio of light wavelengths: blue is ultraviolet light captured by the Galaxy Evolution Explorer; yellowish white is visible light seen by Hubble; and red is infrared light detected by Spitzer. The blue areas show the hottest, youngest stars, while the reddish-pink denotes lanes of dust that line the spiral arms. The orange center is made up of older stars.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/Harvard-Smithsonian CfA
Jason
Uploaded by Jason on
.
M81 Galaxy - Pink Coloration - Desktop Nexus SpaceDownload free wallpapers and background images: M81 Galaxy - Pink Coloration. Desktop Nexus Space background ID 29897. The perfectly picturesque spiral galaxy known as Messier 81, or M81, looks sharp in this new composite from NASA's Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes and NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer. M81 is a "grand design" spiral galaxy, which means its elegant arms curl all the way down into its center. It is located about 12 million light-years away in the Ursa Major constellation and is one of the brightest galaxies that can be seen from Earth through telescopes.
The colors in this picture represent a trio of light wavelengths: blue is ultraviolet light captured by the Galaxy Evolution Explorer; yellowish white is visible light seen by Hubble; and red is infrared light detected by Spitzer. The blue areas show the hottest, youngest stars, while the reddish-pink denotes lanes of dust that line the spiral arms. The orange center is made up of older stars.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/Harvard-Smithsonian CfA
Rating: 5.0
always a pleasure to read information on the galaxies. This is another neighbour we won't hear from for quite a while..not in any of our lifetimes, unfortunately.
Total Downloads: 8,847
Times Favorited: 44
Uploaded By: Jason
Date Uploaded: December 17, 2008
Filename: ain_sig07-009-hires.jpg
Original Resolution: 3180x2456
File Size: 2.82MB
Category: Galaxies