NASA Shares a Photo of a Distant Rosebud-Shaped Nebula For Mother's Day
This Mother's Day, instead of sending your mom a normal Earth rose, NASA wants you to send a giant, cosmic space rose.
More specifically, you can send this photo of the nebula NGC-7129, a far off cluster of newborn stars that happens to be shaped like a rosebud, with some added colors added in to match when viewed through the infrared Spitzer Space Telescope. Considering it's an enormous cloud of gas and dust containing at least 130 young stars, you might have to settle for just sending the photo.
See it below:
To give some more details on what you're looking at, this rosebud nebula is located about 3,300 lightyears away from Earth, lying in the northern sky in the constellation Cepheus (a Greek king). Most of the "rose" is actually a large bubble blown through the nebula by the budding young stars - a messy event that's common in the frequently chaotic stellar nurseries.
It wouldn't look like this normally (although you wouldn't be able to see this without a fancy telescope), but the Spitzer telescope relies on infrared to pick up more light wavelengths than just what's on the visible spectrum. The red, greens, and other colors were added in to substitute for these non-visible wavelengths.
So it's not exactly the kind of thing your mother might want in their living room. But it's cooler than a simple rose, to be sure.
More specifically, you can send this photo of the nebula NGC-7129, a far off cluster of newborn stars that happens to be shaped like a rosebud, with some added colors added in to match when viewed through the infrared Spitzer Space Telescope. Considering it's an enormous cloud of gas and dust containing at least 130 young stars, you might have to settle for just sending the photo.
See it below:
Make your mom feel out-of-this-world this #MothersDay by sending her this interstellar rose, courtesy of @NASASpitzer. Bright young stars fill this rosebud-shaped cloud of gas & dust, known as a nebula. Learn more facts to share with mom: https://t.co/2gc9kZE8mH pic.twitter.com/IB9L21YRTF
— NASA (@NASA) May 13, 2018
To give some more details on what you're looking at, this rosebud nebula is located about 3,300 lightyears away from Earth, lying in the northern sky in the constellation Cepheus (a Greek king). Most of the "rose" is actually a large bubble blown through the nebula by the budding young stars - a messy event that's common in the frequently chaotic stellar nurseries.
It wouldn't look like this normally (although you wouldn't be able to see this without a fancy telescope), but the Spitzer telescope relies on infrared to pick up more light wavelengths than just what's on the visible spectrum. The red, greens, and other colors were added in to substitute for these non-visible wavelengths.
So it's not exactly the kind of thing your mother might want in their living room. But it's cooler than a simple rose, to be sure.
