Amateur and Professional Astronomers Team Up to Create a Cosmological Masterpiece

February 05, 2013 10:00AM (EST)Release ID: 2013-06
A close-up of a spiral galaxy fills the frame diagonally from lower left to upper right. The circular-shaped galaxy is not seen perfectly face-on, but is slightly tilted. It has a glowing yellow central core and several spiral arms that wind clockwise from the center, extending beyond the frame. The spiral shape is subtle and the arms are dominated by brown dust lanes that are dotted with blue star clusters and small, pink regions of forming stars. On top of the normal spiral pattern are the galaxy’s "anomalous arms,” large red plumes of glowing gas. The upper left and lower right corners reveal a dark starless background.

Summary

Working with astronomical image processors at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md., renowned astrophotographer Robert Gendler has taken science data from the Hubble Space Telescope archive and combined it with his own ground-based observations to assemble a photo illustration of the magnificent spiral galaxy M106.

Gendler retrieved archival Hubble images of M106 to assemble a mosaic of the center of the galaxy. He then used his own and fellow astrophotographer Jay GaBany's observations of M106 to combine with the Hubble data in areas where there was less coverage, and finally, to fill in the holes and gaps where no Hubble data existed.

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