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The Universe in the Infrared

The Universe in the Infrared. On Tour with Spitzer. So, what amazing, astounding new science have we learned with Spitzer?. Images courtesy NASA/JPL - Caltech. Funded by NASA’s Spitzer Science Center. Outline. Solar System Nearby stars Protostars and protoplanetary disks Galaxies

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The Universe in the Infrared

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  1. The Universe in the Infrared On Tour with Spitzer So, what amazing, astounding new science have we learned with Spitzer? Images courtesy NASA/JPL - Caltech Funded by NASA’s Spitzer Science Center

  2. Outline • Solar System • Nearby stars • Protostars and protoplanetary disks • Galaxies • The distant Universe The Universe in the Infrared

  3. Comet Debris Tails @ 24 mm • Comets can have 3 types of tails • gas • dust • debris tails • Debris tails are formed from mm to cm sized particles shed by the comet • Debris tails follow the orbit of the comet • These are the particles that produce meteor showers • Daniel Kirkwood! The Universe in the Infrared

  4. Vega and Fomalhaut • Debris disks around nearby stars • both about 25 LY • Vega’s is huge • Seen face-on • 20 times larger than the Solar System • Mass 1/3 of Moon’s • Recent collision of Pluto-sized objects? • Fomalhaut’s is seen edge-on The Universe in the Infrared

  5. Alien Asteroid Belt • A dusty asteroid belt circling the star HD 69830 • Detected from IR emissions from dust • 25 x the mass of our own asteroid belt • Or is it a super-comet (Pluto-sized?) • forsterite grains like Hale-Bopp Artist’s conception The Universe in the Infrared

  6. Planets Circling a Brown Dwarf? • OTS 44 is a brown dwarf • too faint to see in visible light • intermediate between a star and a planet • 15 x mass of Jupiter • Encircled by a dust disk • Could it harbor planets? The Universe in the Infrared

  7. Massive Star Embryos Hidden in Dust • Spitzer sees stars forming inside knots of cold dust • Infalling material warms, and glows in the infrared The Universe in the Infrared

  8. How Stars Form Stars form when huge clouds of gas and dust collapse due to gravity • When the center becomes hot and dense enough, it blows away the cocoon, revealing the new star inside • At infrared wavelengths, we can see inside the cocoon as the star forms The Universe in the Infrared

  9. A Surprise from Spitzer • Left: optical sky survey image • Right: Spitzer 3-color composite: • Blue = 3.6 mm • Green = 8.0 mm • Red = 24 mm L1014 is 600 LY distant in the constellation Cygnus The central yellow “star” in the center is a faint, forming star, possibly a brown dwarf. The Universe in the Infrared

  10. IR composite image far infrared image visible hot young protostars embedded in dust The Elephant Trunk: A Nearby Star-Forming Region Spitzer reveals protostars forming in the Elephant Trunk Nebula 2,450 LY in Cepheus The Universe in the Infrared

  11. A New Milky Way Globular Cluster Toward the constellation Aquila Distance: 9000 LY Age: ~ 13 Gyr Mass: 300,000 MSun The Universe in the Infrared

  12. Milky Way Twin: NGC 7331 The Universe in the Infrared

  13. Distant, Dusty Galaxies Spitzer has found optically invisible galaxies so distant that we see them as they were only 3 billion years after the Big Bang. These galaxies are obscured by silicate dust, suggesting that planets could have formed even at this early time in the history of the Universe. Artist’s conception Higdon et al. 2005, Ap.J., 626, 58 The Universe in the Infrared

  14. Even more distant galaxies… At even greater distance, only 2 Gyr after the Big Bang, Spitzer finds super-massive black holes in galaxies shrouded in dust. X-rays from some of these black hole galaxies are seen with the Chandra X-ray telescope, but they give off too little visible light to be seen with Hubble. The Universe in the Infrared

  15. Spitzer Continues to Amaze! The Universe in the Infrared

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