{"id":572935,"date":"2023-11-29T16:32:17","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T21:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg"},"modified":"2023-11-29T16:35:44","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T21:35:44","slug":"a-cluster-brimming-with-millions-of-stars-glistens-like-an-iridescent-opal-in-this-image-from-nasas-spitzer-space-telescope-called-omega-centauri-the-sparkling-orb-of-stars-is-like-a-miniature-gal","status":"inherit","type":"attachment","link":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/image-detail\/a-cluster-brimming-with-millions-of-stars-glistens-like-an-iridescent-opal-in-this-image-from-nasas-spitzer-space-telescope-called-omega-centauri-the-sparkling-orb-of-stars-is-like-a-miniature-gal\/","title":{"rendered":"Globular Cluster Omega Centauri Looks Radiant in Infrared"},"author":35,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nasa_hds_core_meta_l10n":"en-US","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_editor":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_contacts":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_topic":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_linked_locations":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_related_articles":[],"hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_id":"","hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_type":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_x":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_y":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_gallery_images":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_video_cc_file_id":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_audio_cc_file_id":""},"media-tags":[],"read_time":2,"video_cc_url":"","audio_cc_url":"","credits":"X-ray: NASA\/CXC\/SAO; Optical: NASA\/ESA\/STScI\/AURA; IR:NASA\/JPL\/Caltech; Image Processing: NASA\/CXC\/SAO\/N. Wolk","original_date":{"stamp":0,"display":""},"description":{"rendered":"<p class=\"attachment\"><a href='https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A cluster brimming with millions of stars glistens like an iridescent opal in this image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Called Omega Centauri, the sparkling orb of stars is like a miniature galaxy. It is the biggest and brightest of the 150 or so similar objects, called globular clusters, that orbit around the outside of our Milky Way galaxy. Stargazers at southern latitudes can spot the stellar gem with the naked eye in the constellation Centaurus. Globular clusters are some of the oldest objects in our universe. Their stars are over 12 billion years old, and, in most cases, formed all at once when the universe was just a toddler. Omega Centauri is unusual in that its stars are of different ages and possess varying levels of metals, or elements heavier than boron. Astronomers say this points to a different origin for Omega Centauri than other globular clusters: they think it might be the core of a dwarf galaxy that was ripped apart and absorbed by our Milky Way long ago. In this new view of Omega Centauri, Spitzer's infrared observations have been combined with visible-light data from the National Science Foundation's Blanco 4-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Visible-light data with a wavelength of .55 microns is colored blue, 3.6-micron infrared light captured by Spitzer's infrared array camera is colored green and 24-micron infrared light taken by Spitzer's multiband imaging photometer is colored red. Where green and red overlap, the color yellow appears. Thus, the yellow and red dots are stars revealed by Spitzer. These stars, called red giants, are more evolved, larger and dustier. The stars that appear blue were spotted in both visible and 3.6-micron-, or near-, infrared light. They are less evolved, like our own sun. Some of the red spots in the picture are distant galaxies beyond our own.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg 3600w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?resize=300,300 300w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?resize=768,768 768w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?resize=1024,1024 1024w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?resize=1536,1536 1536w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?resize=2048,2048 2048w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?resize=50,50 50w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?resize=100,100 100w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?resize=200,200 200w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?resize=400,400 400w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?resize=600,600 600w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?resize=900,900 900w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?resize=1200,1200 1200w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?resize=2000,2000 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A cluster brimming with millions of stars glistens like an iridescent opal in this image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. Called Omega Centauri, the sparkling orb of stars is like a miniature galaxy. It is the biggest and brightest of the 150 or so similar objects, called globular clusters, that orbit around the outside of our Milky Way galaxy. Stargazers at southern latitudes can spot the stellar gem with the naked eye in the constellation Centaurus. Globular clusters are some of the oldest objects in our universe. Their stars are over 12 billion years old, and, in most cases, formed all at once when the universe was just a toddler. Omega Centauri is unusual in that its stars are of different ages and possess varying levels of metals, or elements heavier than boron. Astronomers say this points to a different origin for Omega Centauri than other globular clusters: they think it might be the core of a dwarf galaxy that was ripped apart and absorbed by our Milky Way long ago. In this new view of Omega Centauri, Spitzer’s infrared observations have been combined with visible-light data from the National Science Foundation’s Blanco 4-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Visible-light data with a wavelength of .55 microns is colored blue, 3.6-micron infrared light captured by Spitzer’s infrared array camera is colored green and 24-micron infrared light taken by Spitzer’s multiband imaging photometer is colored red. Where green and red overlap, the color yellow appears. Thus, the yellow and red dots are stars revealed by Spitzer. These stars, called red giants, are more evolved, larger and dustier. The stars that appear blue were spotted in both visible and 3.6-micron-, or near-, infrared light. They are less evolved, like our own sun. Some of the red spots in the picture are distant galaxies beyond our own.<\/p>\n"},"caption":{"rendered":"<p>A cluster brimming with millions of stars glistens like an iridescent opal in this image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. Called Omega Centauri, the sparkling orb of stars is like a miniature galaxy. It is the biggest and brightest of the 150 or so similar objects, called globular clusters, that orbit around the outside of our Milky Way galaxy. Stargazers at southern latitudes can spot the stellar gem with the naked eye in the constellation Centaurus. Globular clusters are some of the oldest objects in our universe. Their stars are over 12 billion years old, and, in most cases, formed all at once when the universe was just a toddler. Omega Centauri is unusual in that its stars are of different ages and possess varying levels of metals, or elements heavier than boron. Astronomers say this points to a different origin for Omega Centauri than other globular clusters: they think it might be the core of a dwarf galaxy that was ripped apart and absorbed by our Milky Way long ago. In this new view of Omega Centauri, Spitzer’s infrared observations have been combined with visible-light data from the National Science Foundation’s Blanco 4-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Visible-light data with a wavelength of .55 microns is colored blue, 3.6-micron infrared light captured by Spitzer’s infrared array camera is colored green and 24-micron infrared light taken by Spitzer’s multiband imaging photometer is colored red. Where green and red overlap, the color yellow appears. Thus, the yellow and red dots are stars revealed by Spitzer. These stars, called red giants, are more evolved, larger and dustier. The stars that appear blue were spotted in both visible and 3.6-micron-, or near-, infrared light. They are less evolved, like our own sun. Some of the red spots in the picture are distant galaxies beyond our own.<\/p>\n"},"alt_text":"A cluster brimming with millions of stars glistens like an iridescent opal in this image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Called Omega Centauri, the sparkling orb of stars is like a miniature galaxy. It is the biggest and brightest of the 150 or so similar objects, called globular clusters, that orbit around the outside of our Milky Way galaxy. Stargazers at southern latitudes can spot the stellar gem with the naked eye in the constellation Centaurus. Globular clusters are some of the oldest objects in our universe. Their stars are over 12 billion years old, and, in most cases, formed all at once when the universe was just a toddler. Omega Centauri is unusual in that its stars are of different ages and possess varying levels of metals, or elements heavier than boron. Astronomers say this points to a different origin for Omega Centauri than other globular clusters: they think it might be the core of a dwarf galaxy that was ripped apart and absorbed by our Milky Way long ago. In this new view of Omega Centauri, Spitzer's infrared observations have been combined with visible-light data from the National Science Foundation's Blanco 4-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Visible-light data with a wavelength of .55 microns is colored blue, 3.6-micron infrared light captured by Spitzer's infrared array camera is colored green and 24-micron infrared light taken by Spitzer's multiband imaging photometer is colored red. Where green and red overlap, the color yellow appears. Thus, the yellow and red dots are stars revealed by Spitzer. These stars, called red giants, are more evolved, larger and dustier. The stars that appear blue were spotted in both visible and 3.6-micron-, or near-, infrared light. They are less evolved, like our own sun. Some of the red spots in the picture are distant galaxies beyond our own.","media_type":"image","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","media_details":{"width":3600,"height":3600,"file":"2023\/11\/spiders.jpg","filesize":9254903,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"file":"spiders.jpg?resize=150,150","width":150,"height":150,"filesize":9254903,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1"},"medium":{"file":"spiders.jpg?resize=300,300","width":300,"height":300,"filesize":9254903,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?w=300"},"medium_large":{"file":"spiders.jpg?resize=768,768","width":768,"height":768,"filesize":9254903,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?w=1024"},"large":{"file":"spiders.jpg?resize=1024,1024","width":1024,"height":1024,"filesize":9254903,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?w=1024"},"1536x1536":{"file":"spiders.jpg?resize=1536,1536","width":1536,"height":1536,"filesize":9254903,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?w=1536"},"2048x2048":{"file":"spiders.jpg?resize=2048,2048","width":2048,"height":2048,"filesize":9254903,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?w=2048"},"thumbnail-sm":{"file":"spiders.jpg?resize=50,50","width":50,"height":50,"filesize":9254903,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?w=50&h=50&crop=1"},"thumbnail-md":{"file":"spiders.jpg?resize=100,100","width":100,"height":100,"filesize":9254903,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?w=100&h=100&crop=1"},"thumbnail-lg":{"file":"spiders.jpg?resize=200,200","width":200,"height":200,"filesize":9254903,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?w=200&h=200&crop=1"},"card-xsm":{"file":"spiders.jpg?resize=400,400","width":400,"height":400,"filesize":9254903,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?w=400"},"card-sm":{"file":"spiders.jpg?resize=600,600","width":600,"height":600,"filesize":9254903,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?w=600"},"card-md":{"file":"spiders.jpg?resize=900,900","width":900,"height":900,"filesize":9254903,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?w=900"},"card-lg":{"file":"spiders.jpg?resize=1200,1200","width":1200,"height":1200,"filesize":9254903,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?w=1200"},"fullwidth":{"file":"spiders.jpg?resize=2000,2000","width":2000,"height":2000,"filesize":9254903,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg?w=2000"},"full":{"file":"spiders.jpg","width":1024,"height":1024,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/M.Boyer (Univer","camera":"","caption":"A cluster brimming with millions of stars glistens like an iridescent opal in this image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Called Omega Centauri, the sparkling orb of stars is like a miniature galaxy. It is the biggest and brightest of the 150 or so similar objects, called globular clusters, that orbit around the outside of our Milky Way galaxy. Stargazers at southern latitudes can spot the stellar gem with the naked eye in the constellation Centaurus.\r\rGlobular clusters are some of the oldest objects in our universe. Their stars are over 12 billion years old, and, in most cases, formed all at once when the universe was just a toddler. Omega Centauri is unusual in that its stars are of different ages and possess varying levels of metals, or elements heavier than boron. Astronomers say this points to a different origin for Omega Centauri than other globular clusters: they think it might be the core of a dwarf galaxy that was ripped apart and absorbed by our Milky Way long ago.\r\rIn this new view of Omega Centauri, Spitzer's infrared observations have been combined with visible-light data from the National Science Foundation's Blanco 4-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Visible-light data with a wavelength of .55 microns is colored blue, 3.6-micron infrared light captured by Spitzer's infrared array camera is colored green and 24-micron infrared light taken by Spitzer's multiband imaging photometer is colored red.\r\rWhere green and red overlap, the color yellow appears. Thus, the yellow and red dots are stars revealed by Spitzer. These stars, called red giants, are more evolved, larger and dustier. The stars that appear blue were spotted in both visible and 3.6-micron-, or near-, infrared light. They are less evolved, like our own sun. Some of the red spots in the picture are distant galaxies beyond our own.","created_timestamp":"1207785600","copyright":"http:\/\/www.spitzer.caltech.edu\/Media\/mediaimages\/copyright.shtml","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"A cluster brimming with millions of stars glistens like an iridescent opal in this image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Called Omega Centauri, the sparkling orb of stars is like a miniature galaxy.","orientation":"1","keywords":["Omega Centauri","Omega Cen"]},"credits":"X-ray: NASA\/CXC\/SAO; Optical: NASA\/ESA\/STScI\/AURA; IR:NASA\/JPL\/Caltech; Image Processing: NASA\/CXC\/SAO\/N. Wolk","original_date":{"stamp":0,"display":""}},"post":572899,"source_url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/spiders.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572935"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/attachment"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"media-tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-tags?post=572935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}