Infrared Rose
This movie begins by showing an optical image of the Rosette nebula, a turbulent star-forming region located 5,000 light-years away in the constellation Monoceros. The view then changes to show the same region as viewed by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
Some of the Rosette's most massive stars, called O-stars, can be seen inside the bubble-like, red cavity as bright blue stars; however, the largest two blue stars in this picture are in the foreground, and not in the nebula itself. Radiation and winds from the super hot stars have collectively blown layers of dust (green) and gas away, revealing the cavity of cooler dust (red).
The visible light image comes courtesy of John Corban and the ESA/ESO/NASA Photoshop FITS Liberator team.
This Spitzer image shows infrared light captured by the telescope's infrared array camera. Light with wavelengths of 24 microns is red; light of 8 microns is green; and light of 4.5 microns is blue.
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... |












































