Feb 10, 2009

J D Harrington Headquarters, Washington 202-358-5241 j d harrington@nasa gov

Ray Villard Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md 410-338-4514 villard@stsci edu

Whitney Clavin Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif 818-354-4673 whitney clavin@jpl nasa gov

Megan Watzke Chandra X-ray Observatory Center, Cambridge, Mass 617-496-7998 mwatzke@cfa harvard edu

RELEASE: 09-026

NASA'S GREAT OBSERVATORIES CELEBRATE INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF ASTRONOMY

WASHINGTON -- Galileo first turned his telescope to the heavens in 1609, marking the dawn of modern astronomy To commemorate 400 years of exploring the universe, 2009 has been designated the International Year of Astronomy

In conjunction with Galileo's birthday on Feb 15, NASA is releasing images from its Great Observatories -- the Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, and Chandra X-ray Observatory -- to more than 100 planetariums, museums, nature centers and schools across the country

The selected sites will unveil a large 9-square-foot print of the spiral galaxy Messier 101 that combines the optical view of Hubble, the infrared view of Spitzer, and the X-ray view of Chandra into one multi-wavelength picture "It's like using your eyes, night vision goggles and X-ray vision all at the same time," said Dr Hashima Hasan, lead scientist for the International Year of Astronomy at NASA Headquarters in Washington

Participating institutions also will display a matched trio of Hubble, Spitzer and Chandra images of Messier 101 Each image shows a different wavelength view of the galaxy that illustrates not only the different science each observatory conducts but also how far astronomy has come since Galileo

Messier 101 is a spiral galaxy about 22 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major It is larger than our own Milky Way galaxy but similar in many ways Hubble's visible light view shows off the swirls of bright stars and glowing gas that give Messier 101 its nickname "the Pinwheel Galaxy " In contrast, Spitzer's infrared-light image sees into the spiral arms and reveals the glow of dust lanes where dense clouds can collapse to form new stars Chandra's X-ray uncovers the high-energy features in the galaxy, such as remnants of exploded stars or matter zooming around black holes The juxtaposition of observations from these three telescopes provides an in-depth view of the galaxy for both astronomers and the public

"The amazing scientific discoveries Galileo made four centuries ago are continued today by scientists using NASA's space observatories," said Denise Smith, the unveiling's project manager at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore "NASA's Great Observatories are distributing huge prints of spectacular images so the public can share in the exploration and wonder of the universe "

The unveilings will take place Feb 14-28 at 76 museums and 40 schools and universities nationwide, reaching both big cities and small towns Sites are planning celebrations involving the public, schools and local media

The Astrophysics Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate supports the International Year of Astronomy Great Observatories image unveiling The project is a collaboration among the Space Telescope Science Institute, the Spitzer Science Center in Pasadena, Calif , and the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Mass

A list of places exhibiting these images can be found at:

http://hubblesource stsci edu/events/iya/participants php

Find out more about NASA's contributions to the International Year of Astronomy at:

http://astronomy2009 nasa gov

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