The turquoise plumes and faint strands of the Tarantula Nebula appear to flood the LMC like ocean currents rushing into space.
“The Hubble Space Telescope has peered multiple times into this galaxy, releasing stunning images of swirling gas clouds and shimmering stars,” NASA officials wrote in a statement. SpaceWednesday (27/7/2022).
However, in most of the LMC images, the colors are completely different from those seen here. “For this image, the researchers replaced the regular R filter, which picks up red light and replaces it with a filter that lets in near infrared light. In traditional images, hydrogen gas appears pink because it glows brightest in red. Here, however, another, less prominent emission line dominates the new and green filter.”
This LMC image was taken as part of an initiative called the Archival Pure Parallel Project (APPP), which consists of more than 1,000 images taken using Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 and other telescope science instruments.
The APPP data can be used to study a variety of astronomical features and effects, including gravitational lenses, cosmic shear, stars of variable mass, and distant galaxies. The data can also be used to supplement observations collected at other wavelengths to paint a more detailed view of the cosmos.
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