NASA release the image of 'Enterprise' nebulae on the 50th anniversary of Star Trek
NASA celebrates the 50th anniversary of famous TV series “Star Trek” with a beautiful image of far-off nebulae. The image was taken by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and resembles fictional spacecrafts used in Star Trek series, first aired September 8th, 1966. The twin nebulae are well known Ant and Hourglass nebulae.
Imaging familiar objects while gazing at unrelated objects is called pareidolia and that is exactly happening here. The nebula on the right of the image reminds us of saucer and hull of original USS Enterprise, a spacecraft steered by character James T. Kirk while the other nebula looks similar to the spacecraft seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation, which was captained by Jean-Luc Picard.
The region pictured in the image is of the region within the disk of our galaxy Milky Way and is not visible with naked eye since it has been obscured by the haze of dust. Spitzer’s remarkable ability to peer through the dust cloud has made it possible to reveal those nebulae in visible light. It is a fitting tribute to the epic show that touched the heart of millions and still inspires fans.
“This image was assembled using data from Spitzer's biggest surveys of the Milky Way, called GLIMPSE and MIPSGAL. Light with a wavelength of 3.5 microns is shown in blue, 8.0 microns in green, and 24 microns in red. The green colors highlight organic molecules in the dust clouds, illuminated by starlight. Red colors are related to thermal radiation emitted from the very hottest areas of dust.” NASA blog says.