Digital Universe Guide - Hayden Planetarium
Digital Universe Guide - Hayden Planetarium
Digital Universe Guide - Hayden Planetarium
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3.3. MILKY WAY DATA GROUPS 117<br />
3.3.25 IRAS Composite All-Sky Survey<br />
Group Name mwIRASc<br />
Reference IRAS Sky Survey Atlas Explanatory Supplement<br />
(Wheelock, S. L., et al. 1994)<br />
Prepared by Carter Emmart (AMNH/<strong>Hayden</strong>)<br />
Labels No<br />
Files mw-iras.speck<br />
Dependencies iras.sgi<br />
Wavelength Composite of 12, 60, and 100 microns<br />
Frequency Composite of 25,000, 5,000, and 3,000 GHz<br />
IRAS (InfraRed Astronomy Satellite) was one of the most successful astronomical missions,<br />
increasing the number of known cataloged objects by 70%. The orbiting telescope observed in the mid-<br />
and far infrared at 12, 25, 60, and 100 microns. This all-sky survey is a composite of the 12, 60, and<br />
100 micron observations. (More information on IRAS can be found in “Far Infrared Survey.”)<br />
Because heat is infrared radiation, it was necessary to cool the telescope to temperatures below<br />
10 Kelvin (−440 ◦ F). This cooling was achieved with liquid helium; however, the coolant ran out a little<br />
early, causing the detector to become saturated by the telescope’s own heat. These “missed orbits” are<br />
seen in this all-sky image as two slits of missing data. Astronomers have since filled in these regions<br />
with other data, but we leave the empty regions in this composite survey to preserve the original IRAS<br />
data.<br />
Image Features The most obvious feature in the IRAS all-sky is the missing data from those lost<br />
orbits (discussed above). Another, more subtle artifact is present as two purple bands running<br />
perpendicular to the swaths of missing data. If you turn on the ecliptic coordinates, you will notice that<br />
these purple bands are along the ecliptic, which marks the plane of our solar system. These bands<br />
result from the subtraction of the zodiacal light. The plane of the solar system is filled with particulate<br />
matter, dust grains that absorb sunlight and radiate in the infrared. In order to see the infrared light from<br />
the Galaxy, astronomers subtracted the light from within our solar system, producing these two bands.<br />
Toward Galactic center in Sagittarius, the infrared light is tightly constrained to the Galactic plane. In<br />
the opposite side of the sky near Orion, the infrared light seems to break up, becoming more clumpy.<br />
Here we are looking away from the center of the Galaxy.<br />
Some objects glow in this part of the sky, though. The Orion Nebula and the Rosette Nebula, two