| 3. Are
there new stars forming in
this galaxy?
Active formation of new stars
is occurring in the shear
region where the oppositely
rotating gases collide, are
compressed, and contract.
Particularly noticeable in
the image are hot, blue young
stars that have just formed,
along with pink clouds of
glowing hydrogen gas that
fluoresce when exposed to
ultraviolet light from newly
formed stars.
4. What do the colors
mean in the Hubble image?
M64 was taken with Hubble's
Wide Field Planetary Camera
2 (WFPC2). The full detector
image is shown at right overlayed
on a ground-based image.The
color filters isolate blue
and near-infrared light (red),
along with red light emitted
by hydrogen atoms (pink in
this image) and green light
from Strömgren y. |
 |
| Place
cursor over image
for NOAO ground view.
WFPC2
WFALL image credit:
NASA and the Hubble
Heritage Team (STScI/AURA).
Underlying Image Credit:
NOAO/AURA/NSF and N.A.
Sharp (NOAO). The underlying
image of M64 is a color
composite of CCD images
from the 0.9-meter telescope
of the Kitt Peak National
Observatory, near Tucson,
Arizona, taken in January
1997. |
|
