Horsehead and Flame Nebula Animation - Infrared vs Optical - Spitzer Space Telescope Tribute (Orestis Pavlou)

Horsehead and Flame Nebula Animation - Infrared vs Optical - Spitzer Space Telescope Tribute

Horsehead and Flame Nebula Animation - Infrared vs Optical - Spitzer Space Telescope Tribute

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As NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope is retiring on January 30th, 2020, the telescope which provided most of the data I use for my PhD research project, I thought I would create a comparison between Spitzer's Infrared image vs an Optical image of the Horsehead and Flame Nebulae, as a small tribute.

In this GIF animation, I superimpose Spitzer's image, taken in infrared wavelengths, on an image taken by me, in optical wavelengths and combined into an HaRGB image.

The transition between the superimposed images clearly shows how Spitzer's ability to collect data in infrared enables us to observe previously unobservable parts of the Universe, by revealing interconnected structures of gas and clusters of stars hidden behind dark, obscuring dust.

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My original optical image and acquisition information:

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Spitzer image credits:

NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESO

Orion Nebula Spitzer Tribute:

Imaged with APT

Please note: The following tables are updated every 24 hours.

Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

Status	Basic failed
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	3213331
PixInsight job	n/a
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

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