NASA shared an amazing image of a colourful Nebula, which may remind you of a Japanese mythical monster.
The image, captured by the now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope, features bright spots ‘like the piercing eyes and elongated snout’ of Godzilla.
Often referred to as the ‘king of the monsters’, Godzilla has been the subject of the world’s longest-running film franchise since its big screen debut in 1954.
This particular nebula, in the constellation Sagittarius in the Southern celestial hemisphere, is dotted with amazing kaleidoscopic colours that represent different wavelengths of infrared light.
This nebula is nearly completely obscured by dust clouds when it is viewed in visible sunlight, which is the light human eyes can detect. Infrared light, which is longer than what our eyes can see, can penetrate the clouds and reveal its amazing beauty.
A nebula (or nebula) is an immense cloud of dust and gases that occupies the space between stars and acts as a nursery for stars.
Nebulae are formed when a star larger than our sun starts to die and gives off a solar-wind of gas.
In case it was not obvious, a stencil around the Nebula brings the fictional monster alive.
NASA will let the public draw their own stencils with the Spitzer Artistronomy website app if they think they can do a better job.
Since 1954, Godzilla has been the subject matter of the longest-running film franchise in the world. The image is from the 1954 film, Godzilla.
The new image was shared by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed by the nearby California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
Robert Hurt (Caltech astronomer), who processed the image, was the first to spot Godzilla.
‘I just happened upon a region in the sky that I’ve looked at many times before, but had never zoomed into.
“Sometimes, if you just crop an entire area differently, it brings out something you didn’t know you had.” It was the eyes, mouth, and ears that roared Godzilla to me.
The Godzilla-like nebula is located in the constellation Sagittarius along the plane of the Milky Way, which was part of Spitzer’s GLIMPSE Survey (Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire).
NASA says: ‘Stars in the upper right – where this cosmic Godzilla’s eyes and snout are seen – are an unknown distance from Earth but within our galaxy.
‘Located about 7,800 light-years from Earth, the bright region in the lower left, appearing as Godzilla’s right hand, is known as W33.’
This nebula almost disappears when viewed in visible sunlight, which is what our eyes can detect.
But infrared light – wavelengths longer than what our eyes can perceive – can penetrate the clouds, revealing its astonishing beauty.
NASA’s Spitzer Space telescope was retired last year after 16 years of infrared light exploration.
Four colours – blue, cyan, green and red – are used to represent different wavelengths of infrared light; yellow and white are combinations of those wavelengths.
Blue and Cy are wavelengths that are primarily emitted primarily by stars, while dust, organic molecules called hydrocarbons, appear green. Warm dust heated by stars or supernovae appears to be red.
Scientists often name Nebulas based on similarities with Earth-based characters or objects, such as a cat’s claw, a tarantula, and a veil.
Astronomers have also seen a black widow spider, a Hallowe’en lamp, a snake and an exposed human brain in Spitzer images.
Spitzer retired in January 2020. Scientists continue to mine the massive data for new information about and impressive new images.
‘It’s one of the ways that we want people to connect with the incredible work that Spitzer did,’ Hurt said.
“I look for compelling areas that can tell a story. Sometimes it’s a story about how stars and planets form, and sometimes it’s about a giant monster rampaging through Tokyo.’
Spitzer’s image shows the Cat’s Paw Neobula. It is named after its large, round features, which give it the appearance of a feline footprint. The constellation Scorpius is home to the nebula, which is a star-forming area in the Milky Way galaxy.
According to Michael Werner (NASA Jet Propulsion Lab, California), the Tarantula Nebula is a demonstration of Spitzer’s capabilities. In January 2020, Spitzer was retired
Spitzer was one of NASA’s four Great Observatories – large, powerful space-based astronomical telescopes that were launched between 1990 and 2003.
The fab four – Spitzer, the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, the Chandra x-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope – were each built to specifically observe regions of the light spectrum.
Satellite light readings can be used by scientists to determine the mass and size stars in other galaxies, and the planets that pass near them.
NASA stated that NASA’s Great Observatories program demonstrated that different wavelengths of light can create a better picture of the universe.
Only the Chandra and the Hubble remain active out of the four, while the Compton was decommissioned back in 2000.
All Spitzer data is available for free in the Spitzer data archive.