Download Video
Video Information
Subscribe to Series
Zooming in on Second-Brightest Star in Milky Way
This movie begins by showing a stretch of the dusty and frenzied central region of our Milky Way galaxy. It then zooms in to reveal the "Peony nebula" star -- the new second-brightest star in the Milky Way, discovered in part by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
If the Peony star is so bright, why doesn't it stand out more in this view? The answer is dust. This star is located in a very dusty region jam packed with stars. In fact, there could be other super bright stars still hidden deep in the stellar crowd. Spitzer's infrared eyes allowed it to pierce the dust and assess the Peony nebula star's true brightness. Likewise, infrared data from the European Southern Observatory's New Technology Telescope in Chile were integral in calculating the Peony nebula star's luminosity.
The Peony nebula, which surrounds the Peony nebular star, is the reddish cloud of dust in and around the white circle.
This is a three-color composite showing infrared observations from two Spitzer instruments. Blue represents 3.6-micron light and green shows light of 8 microns, both captured by Spitzer's infrared array camera. Red is 24-micron light detected by Spitzer's multiband imaging photometer.
Related Media
 |
News Release Brightest Star in the Galaxy has New Competition ssc2008-13 |
 |
Image 'Peony Nebula' Star Settles for Silver Medal ssc2008-13a |
 |
Video Zooming in on Second-Brightest Star in Milky Way ssc2008-13v1 |
Most Popular Videos
Spitzer Podcasts
Browse Videos in Science Animations
04.20.05 Sunset on an Alien WorldThis artist's animation illustrates what the night sky might look like from a hypothetical alien planet in a star sys... |
03.22.05 Distant Planet Flaunts its LightThis artist's animation shows a close-up view of a distant giant planet passing behind its star as a regular part of ... |
03.22.05 How to Measure a Planetary EclipseThis artist's animation shows a close-up view of a distant giant planet passing behind its star as a regular part of ... |
03.22.05 A Planet in a Different LightThis artist's animation shows first what a fiery hot star and its close-knit planetary companion might look like clos... |
03.01.05 Invisible Galaxies Come to LifeThis artist's animation demonstrates that an invisible galaxy shrouded in dust can become glaringly bright when viewe... |
02.11.05 Spitzer's Delicate Ring FlowerNASA's Spitzer Space Telescope finds a delicate flower in the Ring Nebula, as shown in this animation. The outer shel... |
02.07.05 Birth of an Unusual Planetary SystemThis artist's animation shows a brown dwarf surrounded by a swirling disk of planet-building dust. NASA's Spitzer Spa... |
01.12.05 Trifid's Shifting SidesThis movie shifts from the well-known visible-light picture of the glowing Trifid Nebula to infrared views from NASA'... |
12.09.04 The Evolution of a Planet-Forming DiskThis animation shows the evolution of a planet-forming disk around a star. Initially, the young disk is bright and th... |
12.09.04 A Distant Solar SystemThis animation portrays an artist's concept of a distant hypothetical solar system, about the same age as our own. It... |
11.09.04 Icy Dawn of a Newborn StarIn this animation, we observe what a young star with a circumstellar disc would look like when viewed from different ... |
10.18.04 Swirling Rings of DustThis animation depicts colliding rocky bodies in an early planetary system. Such collisions form the basis of the pla... |
10.18.04 When Worlds CollideThis animation illustrates a massive collision between rocky, embryonic planets as big as mountain ranges. Such colli... |
10.12.04 Galactic Fossil Revealed in Infrared LightThis animation demonstrates the power of infrared light to see what visible light cannot -- a newfound bundle of star... |
10.07.04 Visible-Infrared WhirlpoolThis animation transitions from the more familiar visible light image of the "Whirlpool Galaxy" to the dramatic new v... |
10.06.04 Supernova ExplosionThis animation of a supernova explosion demonstrates what happens when a massive star explodes and creates a shell of... |
10.06.04 Kepler's Supernova Remnant - Zoom-InThis "zoom" starts in the Scorpius constellation and pushes through deeper and narrower telescopic fields to at last ... |
10.06.04 Kepler's Supernova Remnant - Composite ImageThe composite view of the supernova splits into its three components: blue-green for Chandra, yellow for Hubble, and ... |
08.09.04 Spitzer Discovers Hidden RingThis animation transitions from a visible light image of the planetary nebula called NGC 246 to Spitzer's new infrare... |
06.01.04 Missing Host Galaxies Found in Infrared - 2In a collaborative effort between NASA's three Great Observatories, astronomers have solved a cosmic mystery by ident... |
