Cool UV/Optical Stellar Pix from NASA & Penn State

An Image Gallery Gift from NASA's Swift

Dec. 28, 2012 — Of the three telescopes carried by NASA's Swift satellite, only one captures cosmic light at energies similar to those seen by the human eye. Although small by the standards of ground-based observatories, Swift's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) plays a critical role in rapidly pinpointing the locations of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the brightest explosions in the cosmos.

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The Crab Nebula is the wreckage of an exploded star, or supernova, observed in the year 1054. The expanding cloud of gas is located 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Taurus. This composite of three Swift UVOT ultraviolet images highlights the luminous hot gas in the supernova remnant. The image is constructed from exposures using these filters: uvw1, centered at 2,600 angstroms (shown as red); uvm2, centered at 2,246 angstroms (green); and uvw2, centered at 1,928 angstroms (blue). (Credit: NASA/Swift/E. Hoversten, PSU)

But as the proxy to the human eye aboard Swift, the UVOT takes some amazing pictures. The Swift team is celebrating eight years of UVOT operations by collecting more than 100 of the instrument's best snapshots in a web-based photo gallery (http://www.swift.psu.edu/uvot/coolPics.php). The images also can be viewed with the free Swift Explorer Mission iPhone app (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/swift-explorer/id465669299?mt=8) developed by the Swift Mission Operations Center (MOC), ofwhich is located in State College, Pa., and operated by Penn State.

More - Link >>> http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121228203202.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fspace_time+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Space+%26+Time+News%29&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail

Penn State Gallery of Images from Telescope on Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Explorer Satellite:
Link >>> http://www.swift.psu.edu/uvot/coolPics.php

Images Can Also be Viewed - Free-of-Charge Swift Explorer Mission iPhone Application:
Link >>> https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/swift-explorer/id465669299?mt=8

Sources: Pennsylvania State University, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.

gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
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