The Dragon And The Swan @sciencemagazine6793

Uploaded July 2010 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

facebook.com/ScienceReason ... Hidden behind a dark veil of dust in the constellation Sagittarius, a lurking dragon has been revealed by the infrared eye of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. It gives us a glimpse into how spiral arms affect the formation of stars.

This is the Hidden Universe of the Spitzer Space Telescope, exploring the mysteries of infrared astronomy with your host Dr. Robert Hurt.

---
Please SUBSCRIBE to Science & Reason:
• youtube.com/Best0fScience
• youtube.com/ScienceTV
• youtube.com/FFreeThinker
• youtube.com/RationalHumanism
---

The Omega Nebula, also known as the Swan Nebula and the Horseshoe Nebula (catalogued as Messier 17 or M17 and as NGC 6618) is an H II region in the constellation Sagittarius. It was discovered by Philippe Loys de Chéseaux in 1745. Charles Messier catalogued it in 1764. It is located in the rich starfields of the Sagittarius area of the Milky Way.

The Omega Nebula is between 5,000 and 6,000 light-years from Earth and it spans some 15 light-years in diameter. The cloud of interstellar matter of which this nebula is a part is roughly 40 light-years in diameter. The total mass of the Omega Nebula is an estimated 800 solar masses.

A open cluster of 35 stars lies embedded in the nebulosity and causes the gases of the nebula to shine due to radiation from these hot, young stars.

• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_Nebula

---

'The Hidden Universe' video series showcases some of the most exciting discoveries in infrared astronomy from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Looking beyond the visible spectrum of light, Spitzer can see a whole new universe of dust and stars hidden from our Earth-bound eyes.

• http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/
.

Keeping The VLTs Eyes Clear: Recoating A Giant Mirror

$NASA Astronomy Pictures Of The Day [Week 1/2010] Science & Reason on Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/ScienceReason NASA Astronomy Pictures Of The Day [Week 1/2010]. Please subscribe to Science & Reason: • http://www.youtube.com/Best0fScience • http://www.youtube.com/ScienceMagazine • http://www.youtube.com/ScienceTV • http://www.youtube.com/FFreeThinker ► A Roll Cloud Over Uruguay These rare long clouds may form near advancing cold fronts. In particular, a downdraft from an advancing storm front can cause moist warm air to rise, cool below its dew point, and so form a cloud. When this happens uniformly along an extended front, a roll cloud may form. Roll clouds may actually have air circulating along the long horizontal axis of the cloud. A roll cloud is not thought to be able to morph into a tornado. • Learn more: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100105.html ► The Spotty Surface of Betelgeuse Betelgeuse really is a big star. If placed at the center of our Solar System it would extend to the orbit of Jupiter. But like all stars except the Sun, the red supergiant is so distant it usually appears as a single point of light, even in large telescopes. The intriguing picture shows two, large, bright, star spots. The spots potentially represent enormous convective cells rising from below the supergiants surface. They are bright because theyre hotter than the rest of the surface, but both spots and surface are cooler than the Sun. Betelgeuse is about 600 light-years away. • Learn more: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100106.html ► The Tail of the Small Magellanic Cloud A satellite galaxy of our Milky Way, the Small Magellanic Cloud is wonder of the southern sky, named for 16th century Portuguese circumnavigator Ferdinand Magellan. Some 200,000 light-years distant in the constellation Tucana, the small irregular galaxys stars, gas, and dust that lie along a bar and extended wing, are familiar in images from optical telescopes. • Learn more: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100107.html ► Andromeda Island Universe The most distant object easily visible to the eye is M31, the great Andromeda Galaxy some two and a half million light-years away. But without a telescope, even this immense spiral galaxy - spanning over 200,000 light years - appears as a faint, nebulous cloud in the constellation Andromeda. In contrast, details of a bright yellow nucleus and dark winding dust lanes, are revealed in this digital telescopic image. Were these spiral nebulae simply outlying components of our own Milky Way Galaxy or were they instead island universes distant systems of stars comparable to the Milky Way itself? • Learn more: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100109.html ► The Mystery of the Fading Star Every 27 years Epsilon Aurigae fades, remaining dim for roughly two years before growing bright again. Since the 19th century, astronomers have studied the mystery star, eventually arguing that Epsilon Aur, centered in this telescopic skyview, was actually undergoing a long eclipse by a dark companion object. But the nature of the companion and even the state of bright star itself could not be pinned down by observations. • Learn more: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100108.html ► A Spherule from the Earths Moon How did this spherule come to be on the Moon? When a meteorite strikes the Moon, the energy of the impact melts some of the splattering rock, a fraction of which might cool into tiny glass beads. Many of these glass beads were present in lunar soil samples returned to Earth by the Apollo missions. • Learn more: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100110.html ► Blue Moon Eclipse The International Year of Astronomy 2009 ended with a Blue Moon and a partial lunar eclipse, as the second Full Moon of December grazed the Earths shadow on December 31st. • Learn more: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100102.html ► The Astronaut Who Captured a Satellite In 1984, high above the Earths surface, an astronaut captured a satellite. It was the second satellite captured that mission. • Learn more: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html .$

Human Evolution: Oldest Evidence Of Stone Tool Use

The Bottom Of The World: Exploring Earths Lowest Places

Lunar Orbiter Reveals: The Moon Is Shrinking