Starship Asterisk*

Herschel's Cygnus X

Explanation: The Herschel Space Observatory's infrared view of Cygnus X spans some 6x2 degrees across one of the closest, massive star forming regions in the plane of our Milky Way galaxy. In fact, the rich stellar nursery already holds the massive star cluster known as the Cygnus OB2 association. But those stars are more evident by the region cleared by their energetic winds and radiation near the bottom center of this field, and are not detected by Herschel instruments operating at long infrared wavelengths. Herschel does reveal the region's complex filaments of cool gas and dust that lead to dense locations where new massive stars are forming. Cygnus X lies some 4500 light-years away toward the heart of the northern constellation of the Swan. At that distance this picture would be almost 500 light-years wide.

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WOW!! colorful!! NICE

When Orin sees this he's going to love it for a background!

Why did they give this nebula a name so confusingly similar to Cygnus X-1, the famous black hole?

I like this image. I love all star formation that produces massive blue stars, and of course this part of the sky is fantastic when it comes to churning out brilliant azure light sources. We can't see their azure light, because it is hidden between massive curtains of dust, but it is there all the same.

I became fascinated by Cygnus OB2 when I read Jim Kaler's book Extreme Stars. In that book, Jim Kaler listed the brightest (known) stars of our galaxy, and he put a star called Cygnus OB2 #12 (spectral class B5Iae) in fifth place! Kaler's book is from 2001, and cutting-edge astronomy may well have changed its mind about the brightest stars in the galaxy since then, but I've always been interested in Cygnus OB2 since I saw Kaler's list. Today's picture gives us an idea about the character of the place, so to speak! And I agree with those who think that the colors of today's APOD are nice, and that the picture is generally interesting to look at. The explanations that you can see if you follow bystander's link make the picture "easier to read", too, and tells you more about this fantastic region of star formation.

Ann

starstruck wrote:When Orin sees this he's going to love it for a background!

I think I can divide it in half and have two; but I like the central region best so I will probably crop it instead!

The Herschel space observatory must be recovered and returned to the Earth when its useful life span is completed. Supposedly, helium gas is used to cool the image receptors of the telescope enabling imaging of cold dust and gas. When the helium is depleted the telescope becomes useless. Its a use-and-throw-away scheme. My understanding is that any project which relies on the use and throw away of sophisticated instruments constitutes non-sense, not science. Numerous robots were sent to Mars in search of biological activity while seals are clubbed to death in Canada. For this reason alone, the 'curiosity' mission to Mars should have been canceled. It does not make sense searching for life elsewhere in the universe while life is relentlessly destroyed on Earth. But, things appear to be much worse than it seems. Nowadays, with all of the space junk orbiting the Earth you never know whether an object blazing across the sky is a meteorite or space junk. The space junk needs to be recovered and recycled. And, frankly, I do not relate images of cold gas and dust with the context of scientific exploration.
The subject of solar analog stars deserves a lot mare attention. Solar analog stars are a subject which may be examined with simple ground-based instruments. Rather than study the objects with sophisticated instruments like Kepler which rely on questionable assumptions, a consistent examination of optical image and supporting spectral data may yield reliable understanding of a solar analog star's disposition including placement of planets and possible existence of Earth-like worlds.
Therefore, I urge NASA and ESA to scrape these non-sense expeditions involving heavy weight use-and-throw-away hardware in favor of more 'down to earth' expeditions involving the search for another Earth.
My own field of interest involves terrestrial worlds involving binary planetary systems similar to Pluto and Charon in which both planets are tidally locked in synchronous orbit. It is known that such worlds exist because theories of celestial mechanics support their existence. Known solar analog stars probably are associated with such binary planetary systems. Eden worlds such as the Earth and Moon probably exist in a majority of G type solar analog stars. But, even with the flying disc propulsion technology supplied by the aliens, where would we look for them..?
The physical data associated with planets of G type stars would not be pronounced or obvious. Dramatic data such as stelar wobble could be misleading. But, there is a model we can draw upon to complete a stellar picture: the Solar system. And, there must be a picture; without the extraterrestrial landscape inscribed by an artist, the scientific data is basically meaningless.

You have a very closed outlook on scientific exploration, Byork. I'm glad that not everyone thinks like you.

Uh, WOW!
--
Obquote: "Hokey smoke, Bullwinkle!" -Rocket J. Squirrel.

Byork wrote:

Space junk recovery is a great idea. It could employ thousands for decades without even sending any more junk up - not cheap though. (I wonder if Mel Fisher would be interseted?) Looking for other "eden" planets for colonization/exploitation is pointless if no one can get to them (excepting the aliens with flying disc propulsion, of course). You could study those planetary systems for whatever insight you might derive about the workings of our own planet/sytem (as we do). But studying worlds we can get to (i.e. Solar System planets and moons) with the ultimate goal of their exploitation makes considerably more sense. Even with "alien" support, obtaining resources from light minutes away is smarter than trucking them in from light years away.

BTW, nice APOD! Really vividly stunning! Thank you!

Much like life on Earth. the swan is a beatiful animal but if you get close, watch out. My son will attest to that.

geckzilla wrote:You have a very closed outlook on scientific exploration, Byork. I'm glad that not everyone thinks like you.

Ditto!

I have been observing the spectacular photographs on APOD for at least five years, now. This particular image has such gorgeous colors that I wonder if any artistic person has considered copying it onto a silk scarf? Would APOD license such a thing? It is really beautiful.

http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php? ... 13#p107113

nesk wrote:I have been observing the spectacular photographs on APOD for at least five years, now. This particular image has such gorgeous colors that I wonder if any artistic person has considered copying it onto a silk scarf? Would APOD license such a thing? It is really beautiful.

With very few exceptions, the editors of APOD do not own the rights to any of the images they publish. They are always careful to get permission to use them, however. Many of them are public domain because any Hubble data is free for everyone. Other images taken by photographers around the world are owned by the individual photographers and are off limits without permission from them. I don't know about Herschel's data or what specific rights apply to it. There's a chance it's similar to Hubble data but I am a bit too sleepy to check right now.

Copyright information for this image (and others from the same source) is here: http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object ... ctid=33135

The contents of the ESA Science & Technology website are intended for the personal and non-commercial use of its users. ESA grants permission to users to visit the site, and to download and copy information, images, documents and materials from the website for users' personal non-commercial use. ESA does not grant the right to resell or redistribute any information, documents, images or material from its website or to compile or create derivative works from material on its website. Use of material on the website is subject to the terms and conditions outlined below.

All material published on the ESA Science & Technology website is protected by copyright and owned or controlled by ESA or the party credited as the provider of the content, software or other material.

Users may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, reproduce, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, display or in any way exploit any of the content, software, material or services, in whole or in part, without obtaining prior written authorisation.

For any further information regarding the ESA Science & Technology website please contact us at: scitech.editorialesa.int

Emphasis mine.

That's just a generic use disclaimer any website could have. The data from Herschel itself should be under a different terms of use... found it.

http://www.herschel.caltech.edu/index.p ... eUsePolicy

Unless otherwise noted, images and video on Herschel public web sites (public sites ending with a herschel.caltech.edu address) may be used for any purpose without prior permission, subject to the special cases noted below. Publishers who wish to have authorization may print this page and retain it for their records; The Herschel Science Center does not issue image permissions on an image by image basis.

The Swan falls under this. I assume this means anyone could make a scarf or anything out of the image and everyone would be fine with it. Might want to ask Martin Hennemann & Frédérique Motte to be sure, but according to the image use policy it seems you don't have to.

I don't know about that, geckzilla; I think your assumption is wrong. That page also includes this:

Some image and video materials on Herschel public web sites are owned by organizations other than Caltech, JPL, or NASA. These owners have agreed to make their images and video available for journalistic, educational, and personal uses, but restrictions are placed on commercial uses. To obtain permission for commercial use, contact the copyright owner listed in each image caption and/or credit. Ownership of images and video by parties other than Caltech, JPL, and NASA is noted in the caption material and/or image credit with each image.

This image is not credited to Caltech, JPL, or NASA; the credit reads "ESA/PACS/SPIRE/ Martin Hennemann & Frédérique Motte, Laboratoire AIM Paris-Saclay, CEA/Irfu - CNRS/INSU - Univ. Paris Diderot, France."

I think the other rules apply.

owlice wrote:I don't know about that, geckzilla; I think your assumption is wrong. That page also includes this:

Some image and video materials on Herschel public web sites are owned by organizations other than Caltech, JPL, or NASA. These owners have agreed to make their images and video available for journalistic, educational, and personal uses, but restrictions are placed on commercial uses. To obtain permission for commercial use, contact the copyright owner listed in each image caption and/or credit. Ownership of images and video by parties other than Caltech, JPL, and NASA is noted in the caption material and/or image credit with each image.

This image is not credited to Caltech, JPL, or NASA; the credit reads "ESA/PACS/SPIRE/ Martin Hennemann & Frédérique Motte, Laboratoire AIM Paris-Saclay, CEA/Irfu - CNRS/INSU - Univ. Paris Diderot, France."

I think the other rules apply.

You are right:

Some image and video materials on Herschel public web sites are owned by organizations other than Caltech, JPL, or NASA. These owners have agreed to make their images and video available for journalistic, educational, and personal uses, but restrictions are placed on commercial uses. To obtain permission for commercial use, contact the copyright owner listed in each image caption and/or credit. Ownership of images and video by parties other than Caltech, JPL, and NASA is noted in the caption material and/or image credit with each image.

So it would have to be a non-commercial, educational scarf without permission. "Hey, what's that scarf? Oh, this is an infrared view of Cygnus X, taken by the Herschel orbiting observatory! Cool, huh?" I think it's time to start ASOD -- Astronomy Scarf of the Day.

geckzilla wrote: "Hey, what's that scarf? Oh, this is an infrared view of Cygnus X, taken by the Herschel orbiting observatory! Cool, huh?" I think it's time to start ASOD -- Astronomy Scarf of the Day.

Oh, what a great idea!!

The Owlzilla Company. Producers of the famous ASOD line of Fine printed scarfs.