A series of images from NASA's Spitzer telescope were presented at the
American Astronomical Society meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May
30, by a group of collaborators including Curtis Stuck, professor of physics
and astronomy at Iowa State.
The Spitzer telescope's sensitive infrared detectors map out faint regions
of new star formation in this pair of colliding galaxies known as Arp
107. Young star clusters have formed along the ring-like tidal arm in
this system. Spitzer images at 8 microns provide a clear view of these
clumps of young stars. In contract, in the shorter wavelength 3.6 micron
band, the older stars in the small companion to the northeast and the
bridge connecting the two galaxies are bright.
A journal article with a detailed analysis of the maps has been submitted
to the Astronomical Journal. The research has been sponsored
by NASA.
"This is eye-catching new astronomical imagery," Struck says.
"Our work is based on new data from NASA's Spitzer and GALEX space
telescopes."
Joining Struck on the research were colleagues from East Tennessee State
University, Phil Appleton, former ISU astronomy professor and Vassilios
Charmandaris, who is a 1995 Ph.D. graduate of Iowa State and a faculty
member at Cornell University.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the Spitzer Space Telescope
mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate.
Additional images are available at
www.etsu.edu/physics/bsmith/arp107/arp107_press.html
www.etsu.edu/physics/bsmith/arp65/arp65_press.html
