What a great video! The Hubble Ultra Deep Field in 3D

It will make you feel small, but in reality we are just a microscopic blip in the universe!

CosmoQuest Needs Your Help!!!

24-Hour Hangout-a-thon is here

Faced with governmental funding cuts to science education and research, we have decided to go old school with a twist: On June 15-16, we are hosting a telethon using Google Hangout on Air – a Hangout-a-thon – to raise money to support public engagement in science.

[ Read more on the Blog ]  [ RSVP or Share the Event on G+ here ]

This event will be hosted by Drs. Pamela Gay and Nicole Gugliucci. Confirmed guests include (incomplete list):

We’ll continue to announce guests as they are confirmed.

You don’t have to wait until June 15-16 to start giving! Make your donation (tax deductible in the US where laws allow) through PayPal today!

 

Why Citizen Science?

We are continuing our survey of your use of CosmoQuest! This will help us contribute to the research on citizen science motivations as well as serve you better as a community. Why are you here? How often do you do citizen science? What keeps you doing science? Help us get a large survey response by contributing on our Survey form and sharing the link with other users! Thank you for helping us do yet more science.

 

NASA – NASA’S Spitzer Sees Milky Way’s Blooming Countryside

Dozens of newborn stars sprouting jets from their dusty cocoons

Dozens of newborn stars sprouting jets from their dusty cocoons have been spotted in images from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Wisconsin 

PASADENA, Calif. — New views from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope show blooming stars in our Milky Way galaxy’s more barren territories, far from its crowded core.

The images are part of the Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (Glimpse 360) project, which is mapping the celestial topography of our galaxy. The map and a full, 360-degree view of the Milky Way plane will be available later this year. Anyone with a computer may view the Glimpse images and help catalog features.

We live in a spiral collection of stars that is mostly flat, like a vinyl record, but it has a slight warp. Our solar system is located about two-thirds of the way out from the Milky Way’s center, in the Orion Spur, an offshoot of the Perseus spiral arm. Spitzer’s infrared observations are allowing researchers to map the shape of the galaxy and its warp with the most precision yet.

While Spitzer and other telescopes have created mosaics of the galaxy’s plane looking in the direction of its center before, the region behind us, with its sparse stars and dark skies, is less charted.

“We sometimes call this flyover country,” said Barbara Whitney, an astronomer from the University of Wisconsin at Madison who uses Spitzer to study young stars. “We are finding all sorts of new star formation in the lesser-known areas at the outer edges of the galaxy.”

via NASA – NASA’S Spitzer Sees Milky Way’s Blooming Countryside.