At a Glance: Galaxy M101 in Infrared Light

 

 

Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach

 

All images, illustrations, and videos courtesy of NASA except:

 

·       Milky Way panorama courtesy of ESO/S. Brunier

·       Taurus constellation drawing from Firmamentum Sobiescianum sive Uranographia by Johannes Hevelius, courtesy of the United States Naval Observatory

·       Andromeda Galaxy image courtesy of Bill Schoening, Vanessa Harvey/REU program/NOAO/AURA/NSF

·       Redshift animation courtesy of ESO

·       Centaurus A visible-light images courtesy of ESO

 

 

Written by Tracy Vogel

Designed by Marc Lussier

Music courtesy of Associated Production Music

(SPEECH) 

 [ELECTRONIC MUSIC] 

(DESCRIPTION) 
 Many galaxies hang in space above the edge of a planet. 

Text, at-a-GLANCE. GALAXY EVOLUTION. 

A white and pink spiral galaxy. 

Text, VISIBLE LIGHT. By observing infrared light, we notice details of galaxies we would otherwise miss. INFRARED LIGHT. 

The galaxy in infrared is green and white with large pink gas clouds. 

Text, Hubble Image, Spiral Galaxy M101. VISIBLE LIGHT. Spitzer Image, Spiral Galaxy M101. INFRARED LIGHT. In visible light, bright stars dominate the view. In infrared light, warm dust and gas clouds are more prominent. 

Some objects, like cooler stars, also glow more brightly in infrared light than in visible light, and we need to detect infrared light to study them.