NGC 5139, Omega Centauri, Globular Cluster
Called Omega Centauri is the biggest and brightest of the 150 or so similar objects, called globular clusters, that orbit around the outside of our Milky Way galaxy. Omega Centauri is unusual in that its stars are of different ages and possess varying levels of metals, or elements heavier than boron. In this view of Omega Centauri, Spitzer's infrared observations have been combined with visible-light data from the NSF's Blanco 4-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Visible-light data with a wavelength of .55 microns is colored blue, infrared light captured by Spitzer's infrared array camera is colored green and 24-micron infrared light taken by Spitzer's multiband imaging photometer is colored red. Where green and red overlap, the color yellow appears. Thus, the yellow and red dots are stars revealed by Spitzer. These stars, called red giants, are more evolved, larger and dustier. The stars that appear blue were spotted in both visible and , or near-, infrared light. They are less evolved, like our own sun. Image taken with the Infrared Array Camera and Multiband Imaging Photometer.
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Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
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Keywords: 5139, array, astronomical, astronomy, body, camera, celestial, centauri, cluster, composite, data, deep, globular, heavenly, image, imaging, infrared, irac, mips, multiband, ngc, object, omega, photometer, science, sky, space, visible-light
