COLLECTION NAME:
NASA Spitzer Space Telescope Collection
Record
Title:
The Universe's First Fireworks
Description:
The right panel is an image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope of stars and galaxies in the Ursa Major constellation. This infrared image covers a region of space so large that light would take up to 100 million years to travel across it. The left panel is the same image after stars, galaxies and other sources were masked out. The remaining background light is from a period of time when the universe was less than one billion years old, and most likely originated from the universe's very first groups of objects -- either huge stars or voracious black holes. Darker shades in the image on the left correspond to dimmer parts of the background glow, while yellow and white show the brightest light.
Release Date:
2006/12/18
Release Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/A. Kashlinsky (GSFC)
Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/A. Kashlinsky (GSFC)
Object name:
Cosmic Infrared Background
Object type:
Galaxy Field
Position (J2000):
*RA: *12h36m49.50s *Dec: *62d12m58.00s
Constellation:
Ursa Major
Wavelength:
3.6, 4.5, and 5.8 microns
Image scale:
972 by 610 pixels with 0.6 arcsec pixels
Observers:
A. Kashlinsky (Goddard Space Flight Center) R. G. Arendt (Goddard Space Flight Center) J. Mather (Goddard Space Flight Center) S. H. Moseley (Goddard Space Flight Center)
Instrument:
IRAC
Exposure Date:
May 19, 2004 - May 26 2004
Exposure Time:
24 hours per pixel
Orientation:
N is 139.9 degrees CW from up
note:
*Background radiation, with foreground objects removed.* Screen-Resolution (450x282): JPEG [ http://ipac.jpl.nas… ssc2006-22a1_small.jpg ] High-Resolution (2430x1525): JPEG | Mac TIFF | PC TIFF Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/A. Kashlinsky (GSFC)
facet_what:
Infrared Array Camera (IRAC)
facet_where:
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
facet_when:
May 19, 2004
facet_when_year:
2004
Image #:
ssc2006-22a
UID:
SPD-SPITZ-ssc2006-22a
