Tornado in Space
For the last 1000 days the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC), aboard NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, has been operating continuously to probe the universe from its most distant regions to our local solar neighborhood. The IRAC "warm" program began once Spitzer used up its liquid helium coolant, thus completing its "cold" mission. To commemorate 1000 days of infrared wonders, the program is releasing a gallery of the 10 best IRAC images.
This amazing image is one of the top 10
IRAC not only probes what is known - it also has uncovered some mysterious objects like this so-called "tornado" nebula. Because the camera is sensitive to light emitted from shocked molecular hydrogen (seen here in green), astronomers think that this strange beast is the result of an outflowing jet of material from a young star that has generated shock waves in surrounding gas and dust.
Check out more of the best Spitzer images.
Image: NASA / JPL-Caltech / J. Bally (University of Colorado) [high-resolution]
Caption: Harvard-Smithsonian CfA