Photo of 30 Largest Infrared Galaxies

All free photos → Free Photos of Nature → Photos of Galaxies → Photo of 30 Largest Infrared Galaxies

This is a premium free photo

This photo was viewed 3 times and was downloaded in full size 2 times.

This photo was liked 0 times

If you are a member, please login in order to see the source link of the above image.

Summary

Description	English: The Two Micron All Sky Survey provides our first global look at galaxies in infrared light. This image presents the 30 largest galaxies seen in the infrared sky. It is important to note that this list will not exactly match the list of the 30 largest galaxies as measured in visible light. One key reason is that the millions of stars whose combined light form the nebulous shape of a galaxy are brighter in the visible part of the spectrum. Galaxies that appear faint in visible light may appear much smaller in the infrared, or indeed may not be detected at all by 2MASS. However, infrared light provides a valuable insight into the structures of galaxies. Dust clouds that can extend through galaxies can hide millions of stars from sight at visible wavelengths. In the infrared, however, they become more and more transparent allowing us to see the actual distribution of stars more clearly. Also, in large galaxies, the visible light can be strongly dominated by a relative handful of the most massive stars. For instance, a star that is only five times the mass of the sun can put out about 1000 times as much light. In the infrared this effect is greatly reduced and the observed light is a better tracer of the distribution of star mass. An interesting feature of this catalog of largest galaxies is that so many of them are edge-on. This is a result of the faintness of galaxies at these wavelengths. Since spiral galaxies are pancake-shaped, only the very brightest can be seen when viewed face-on because they are so thin. However, when seen from the edge, the increased thickness makes even fainter galaxies more visible. Therefore, edge-on galaxies are more likely to be detected and will tend to appear larger.
Date	11 September 2002
Source	https://www.ipac.caltech.edu/2mass/gallery/showcase/30galaxies/index.html
Author	2MASS/T. Jarrett

Licensing

This file is in the public domain because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy.)

Warnings:

Use of NASA logos, insignia and emblems are restricted per US law 14 CFR 1221.
The NASA website hosts a large number of images from the Soviet/Russian space agency, and other non-American space agencies. These are not necessarily in the public domain.
Materials based on Hubble Space Telescope data may be copyrighted if they are not explicitly produced by the STScI.[1] See also {{PD-Hubble}} and {{Cc-Hubble}}.
The SOHO (ESA & NASA) joint project implies that all materials created by its probe are copyrighted and require permission for commercial non-educational use. [2]
Images featured on the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) web site may be copyrighted. [3]

Photo's description:

The Two Micron All Sky Survey provides our first global look at galaxies in infrared light. This image presents the 30 largest galaxies seen in the infrared sky. It is important to note that this list will not exactly match the list of the 30 largest galaxies as measured in visible light. One key reason is that the millions of stars whose combined light form the nebulous shape of a galaxy are brighter in the visible part of the spectrum. Galaxies that appear faint in visible light may appear much smaller in the infrared, or indeed may not be detected at all by 2MASS. However, infrared light provides a valuable insight into the structures of galaxies. Dust clouds that can extend through galaxies can hide millions of stars from sight at visible wavelengths. In the infrared, however, they become more and more transparent allowing us to see the actual distribution of stars more clearly. Also, in large galaxies, the visible light can be strongly dominated by a relative handful of the most massive stars. For instance, a star that is only five times the mass of the sun can put out about 1000 times as much light. In the infrared this effect is greatly reduced and the observed light is a better tracer of the distribution of star mass. An interesting feature of this catalog of largest galaxies is that so many of them are edge-on. This is a result of the faintness of galaxies at these wavelengths. Since spiral galaxies are pancake-shaped, only the very brightest can be seen when viewed face-on because they are so thin. However, when seen from the edge, the increased thickness makes even fainter galaxies more visible. Therefore, edge-on galaxies are more likely to be detected and will tend to appear larger. Date 11 September 2002 Source http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/2mass/gallery/showcase/30galaxies/index.html Author 2MASS/T. Jarrett Copyright notice: http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/2mass/gallery/showcase/copyright.html [edit] Licensing Public domainPublic domainfalsefal

Licensing:
Public Domain

Only registered users can post comments. Please login.

EXIF data:
File name	30_largest_infrared_galaxies.jpg
Size, Mbytes	2.816244140625
Mime type	image/jpeg
Orientation of image	1
Image resolution in width direction	216
Image resolution in height direction	216
Unit of X and Y resolution	2
Color space information	65535
Exif image width	3580
Exif image length	4600
Software used	Adobe Photoshop 7.0

The images at Free-Photos.biz come mainly from Wikimedia Commons or from our own production. The photos are either in the public domain, or licensed under free linceses: Free-Photos.biz license, GPL, Creative Commons or Free-Art license. Some very few other photos where uploaded to Free-Photos.biz by our users and released into the public domain or into free usage under another free license (like GPL etc.)

While the copyright and licensing information supplied for each photo is believed to be accurate, Free-Photos.biz does not provide any warranty regarding the copyright status or correctness of licensing terms. If you decide to reuse the images from Free-Photos.biz, you should verify the copyright status of each image just as you would when obtaining images from other sources.

The use of depictions of living or deceased persons may be restricted in some jurisdictions by laws regarding personality rights. Such images are exhibited at Free-Photos.biz as works of art that serve higher artistic interests.

PRIVACY POLICY

By registering your account and/or by subscribing to new and newly rated photographs you agree we may send you the links to photos and we may occasionally share other information with you.

We do NOT disclose your personal data.

Subscribe for free!

This is a premium free photo

Summary

Licensing

PRIVACY POLICY