Pacific Science Center [1] just installed some amazing new photographs. They’re right outside the planetarium, beside the Gemini Capsule. Our public unveiling of these images is today, November 18th at 10am.
The images we’re putting up are a celebration of the International Year of Astronomy from three of NASA’s Great Observatories. I’m going to show you the images here, but to appreciate their full majesty you’ve got to stop by and see them in person.
[2]Key to the Center of our Galaxy
I’m also putting up the key to the images, so you can use them to do a treasure hunt when you come to visit.
Some Quickie Tech Details
- Distance to these formations: 26,000 light years
- Width: 246 light years from edge to edge (really 32.5 arcminutes if you want to get technical)
- Color: This is a false-color image. Reds are infrared from Spitzer, yellows are near-infrared from Hubble, and blues are X-ray from Chandra. To see it look this beautiful you’d have to be some kind of alien with fancy eyes that see in a very wide range of wavelengths. None of the wavelengths represented here are visible to the human eye.
Where Is It?
[3]Map of Sagittarius with Image Location Marked
Where’d I Get My Info?
HubbleSite [4]
And Some Carnivals of Space!
#129 from Tiny Mantras [5] – featuring my 2012 movie review post and some really interesting stuff about Unicorns …
#128 from AARTScope [6] – featuring a quiz on IYA and “How to talk to your friends about 2012” from me
#127 from Next Big Future [7] – seems to be all about the awesome Ares 1-X Launch
#126 from The Gish Bar Times [8] – has my video about telescope purchasing, and a lot about the Moon
#125 from Orbiting Frog [9] – is very easy to read, check it out!
~ A l i c e !