Microwave Eyes

On the Cosmos

When we look at the universe with our Mark I eyeballs through optical instruments, we’re detecting only a portion of the total radiation that is emitted from objects and events in space.  That is, we’re only seeing part of the light that bounces around the cosmos. The rest of it is slithering by us and we aren’t even aware of it.  In a multi-wavelength universe, it’s the equivalent of having blinders on — only the blinders are filtering out (or actually not letting us “see” those other wavelengths).

That multiwavelength “blindness” is curable however.  We simply use additional means to detect the many other wavelength regimes.  The Planck satellite is our microwave “eye” on the sky these days. This mission, launched and operated by the European Space Agency, is peering into places our eyes can never see. And, it’s seeing some amazing spaces.

The Planck mission's view of the Orion Nebula in microwave emissions. The first image covers much of the constellation of Orion. The nebula is the bright spot to the lower centre. The bright spot to the right of centre is around the Horsehead Nebula, so called because at high magnifications a pillar of dust resembles a horse’s head. The giant red arc of Barnard’s Loop is thought to be the blast wave from a star that blew up inside the region about two million years ago. The bubble it created is now about 300 light-years across. Courte

Planck’s operators turned its gaze toward the Orion Nebula, a star-forming region about 1,500 light-years away. It’s well-studied in many wavelengths and astronomers have found stars in all stages of formation within the molecular créche.

Star formation is one of those processes that we can’t see much of in the optical. Oh, we can see the newborn stars after they’ve eaten away their birth cocoons, and often enough we can see those glowing clouds of gas and dust. But, we can’t see into the birthplaces to observe the whole process from start to finish. For that, we need to use infrared-sensitive detectors — or,  as ESA is doing — we use Planck’s microwave-sensitive instruments. It can see right past the clouds of gas and dust that would otherwise hide everything from our view.

Planck’s images of Orion show emission given off as high-speed electrons interact with the magnetic fields that thread our galaxy. They also show the emission from gas that has been heated by hot young stars in the nebula. And, Planck can also detect microwave signatures of  the cold dust clouds that are about to complete their collapse and begin the process of hatching new stars.

Keep an eye out for more great results from Planck! Its mission is to map the whole sky in microwave emissions and search out the signals from the earliest events of the universe. As it looks out across the light-years, it will bring us penetrating views of our own galaxy’s many shrouded regions.  I can’t wait to see what else it shows us!

Hooray for Hubble!

Hubble Has Gotten Results

Hubble Space Telescope's exquisite view of the planetary nebula NGC 2818. Our Sun may look similar to this as it approaches its old age some 5 billion years from now. Courtesy STScI.

So, twenty years ago today, Hubble Space Telescope went to space. Since then, it has been churning out great results almost continuously — even in spite of its well-publicized early problems.  I say “results” because pictures aren’t the only things Hubble cranks out. It’s a data machine — observing the universe in some wavelengths of ultraviolet light, optical light, and infrared. Naturally, our eyes can’t see much beyond the optical window we evolved to see, so either the ultraviolet and infrared come down as data (spectra or graphs or plots) or they get “visualized” into images that show us what objects and events in space would look like if we COULD see those wavelengths.

Now, if you go to the Hubble Space Telescope web site, you’ll see a lot of pretty pictures. I encourage you to browse through it and see what Hubble has shown us throughout the past two decades.  As you read and browse the images, you’ll see the word “unprecedented” used a lot. It’s not hyperbole. Before Hubble was launched, there was NO way to get the kind of high-resolution images and data it delivers. That’s largely because ground-based telescopes have had to contend with the atmospheric blurring that smears images of dim distant objects. Until recently, ground-based telescopes also didn’t have access to high-resolution instruments. Today, that game has changed and many ground-based observatories use adaptive optics and high-res instruments to get ‘near-Hubble‘ resolution. In some cases, they give Hubble a run for its money!  In that sense of competition and technological advancement, Hubble has also been a game-changer.

I, for one, can’t wait to see what Hubble cranks out next — images OR data.  And, I’m incredibly impressed that we live in a time when we can log in, click on a web site, and see images from our solar system, our galaxy, and the most distant reaches of the universe. It’s a golden age of exploration!  Here’s to the telescope, and the thousands of people right here on Earth who make it work, use it for discovery, and share it that sense of awe and wonder they get from Hubble’s images with the rest of us!

It Was Twenty Years Ago Today…

When Hubble Space Telescope Went out to Play

It is really hard to believe that it’s been twenty years since Hubble Space Telescope was launched. But, it’s true. On April 24, 1990, this venerable and famous observatory was lofted into orbit on what was going to be an 10- to 15-year orbital voyage of cosmic discovery. Here we are, a couple of decades later, still gaping at gorgeous Hubble images. For me, it’s something of a shocking milestone. It means that 20 years ago, I was just getting ready to enter graduate school. I was on an HST team at the University of Colorado, and only two years later, I was writing the first major book (with my co-author Jack Brandt) about Hubble science.  It seems like only a couple of years ago.  And, I’m sure for most of the HST scientists, it seems like only yesterday.  Even though its official anniversary is tomorrow, I wanted to kick off celebrating it today… hence the title.

Mystic Mountain, a starbirth cloud as seen by Hubble Space Telescope

To celebrate the twentieth year of discovery, the Space Telescope Science Institute has released this spectacular image called “Mystic Mountain“. It’s a three light-year-long pillar of gas and dust that lies about 7,500 light-years away in the Carina Nebula. This towering pillar is is being eaten away by the light and radiation of hot, young nearby stars. There are also stars inside this pillar — newborns that are radiating from within and eating their way out of their birth cocoons. Those same baby stars are sending jets of material out, which you can see at the top of the pillar.

Starbirth region images are some of my favorites from Hubble. They hold the secret promise of continual star life in the universe. And, the more we study them, the more we learn about the origins of our own Sun and planets, some 4.6 billion years ago — in a cloud of gas and dust that may very well have looked a lot like this one!

I think it’s particularly poignant that this stunning image should come out now that HST is forever beyond our reach in orbit around Earth. It has extended our reach out to the limits of the observable universe.  It was launched with all the good wishes and hopes of thousands of scientists. It has suffered problems, but it has been serviced several times — each time bring the telescope back in better shape than before. A whole generation of children has grown to adulthood knowing and loving the HST images. For them, there’s never been a time when we didn’t have at least one orbiting telescope showing us the wonders of the universe.

Hubble will continue to peer at the cosmos, bringing us views like this one. It will extend our gaze to the most distant galaxies and the earliest stars. And, eventually, when it stops working and can no longer be repaired, it will go down in history as one of the greatest, most eye-opening observatories ever built.  So, here’s to Hubble! Let’s celebrate its wonderful discoveries over the next few days and salute the thousands of people whose work on Hubble have given us the cosmos — for less cost to you and me than a penny we might pick up from a sidewalk.