MEADVILLE, Pa. – Oct. 29, 2009 – Allegheny College will take visitors on a journey to the center of the Milky Way galaxy, unveiling unprecedented mural-sized images of the galaxy’s core as seen by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory.
The presentation, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 11 at Pelletier Library, located at the corner of North Main and East College Streets on the Allegheny campus. As part of the event, James Lombardi, associate professor of physics at Allegheny College, will discuss how the images were taken and what they imply about the center of the Milky Way.
The unveiling of the images is part of the International Year of Astronomy, which celebrates the 400th anniversary of Galileo turning a telescope to the heavens. Since Galileo’s spyglass, telescopes have grown ever larger and ever better and have moved to mountaintops and into space. NASA’s Great Observatories represent the crowning achievements of astronomy four centuries later and are honoring this legacy with a national image unveiling.
A 6-foot-by-3-foot image presents a unique view that showcases the galaxy in near-infrared light observed by Hubble, infrared light observed by Spitzer, and X-ray light observed by Chandra. This combined image was carefully assembled from mosaic photo surveys of the core by each telescope. It provides the most wide-ranging view ever of the galaxy’s mysterious hub.
The presentation also will include a matched trio of Hubble, Spitzer and Chandra images of the Milky Way’s center on a second large panel measuring 3 feet by 4 feet. Each image shows the telescope’s different wavelength view of the central region of our galaxy that illustrates not only the unique science each observatory conducts, but also how far astronomy has come since Galileo.
Within these images one can trace the spectacle of stellar evolution: from vibrant regions of star birth, to young hot stars, to old cool stars, to seething remnants of stellar death called black holes. This activity occurs against a vivid backdrop in the crowded, hostile environment of the galaxy’s core, the center of which is dominated by a supermassive black hole millions of times more massive than the sun. These multi-wavelength views provide both stunning beauty and a wealth of scientific information.
For more information about this event, please contact James Lombardi, associate professor of physics, at (814) 332-2975 or jalombar@allegheny.edu. Additional information about NASA’s celebration of the International Year of Astronomy is available at astronomy2009.nasa.gov.
