024622

Two bright stars illuminate a greenish mist in this and other images from the new 'GLIMPSE360' survey from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. This fog is comprised of hydrogen and carbon compounds called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are found right here on Earth in sooty vehicle exhaust and on charred grills. In space, PAHs form in the dark clouds that give rise to stars. These molecules provide astronomers a way to visualize the peripheries of gas clouds and study their structures in great detail. They are not actually 'green;' but are colour coded in these images to let scientists see their glow in infrared. This image is a combination of data from Spitzer and the Two-Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS). 2009

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Filename: 024622 (1).jpg
Copyright: Irish Photo Archive
Image Size: 4200x4200 / 3.7MB; Astronomy space exploration galaxy
Contained in galleries: Recently uploaded historical photos 3

Two bright stars illuminate a greenish mist in this and other images from the new 'GLIMPSE360' survey from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. This fog is comprised of hydrogen and carbon compounds called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are found right here on Earth in sooty vehicle exhaust and on charred grills. In space, PAHs form in the dark clouds that give rise to stars. These molecules provide astronomers a way to visualize the peripheries of gas clouds and study their structures in great detail. They are not actually 'green;' but are colour coded in these images to let scientists see their glow in infrared. This image is a combination of data from Spitzer and the Two-Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS). 2009