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EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES AND EVENTS

Educational Resources and Events Catalog

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  1. Exploring the Cosmic Cliffs in 3D

    Videos
    This visualization presents a flight through the ethereal landscape of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s famous image nicknamed “Cosmic Cliffs.” These cliffs are a spectacular...
    The image is divided horizontally by an undulating line between a brown cloudscape forming a nebula along the bottom and a comparatively clear upper portion in blue. Speckled across both portions is a starfield, showing innumerable stars of many sizes. The upper blue portion has wispy translucent cloud-like streaks rising from the nebula below. The orange and brown cloudy formation in the bottom half varies in density and ranges from translucent to opaque. The nebula contains ridges, peaks, and valleys—an appearance similar to a mountain range. In the bottom left corner, a clearer area free of gas and dust appears black with speckled stars.

  2. Star Formation from the Carina Nebula to the Cosmic Cliffs

    Videos
    This scientific visualization traverses the vast star-forming region of the Carina Nebula Complex using multiwavelength data from NASA space telescopes. The narrated journey explores clusters of massive...
    Four images from the Carina Nebula Complex are spliced vertically at an angle. From left to right: Hubble’s view in brown, gray, and light blue tones with a brilliant white star cluster at center; a bright purple and pink observation by Chandra; a bright pink wash with tiny blue orbs imaged by Spitzer; and a Webb view showing bright blue at top with brown clouds at bottom, overlaid with stars.

  3. Flight to the Carina Nebula Complex

    Videos
    This visualization travels across interstellar space to the vast star-forming region of the Carina Nebula Complex. Starting with the 2D sky as seen from Earth, the sequence traces out the nearby constellations...
    At the center is a loose splotch of red, the Carina Nebula, set against the black background of space. Distant stars and galaxies are speckled across the scene. The very center of the Carina Nebula is brightest, almost white, with larger stars represented as dots. The gas and dust that make up the nebula take the loose form of flower petals, like an iris. The top “petal” appears in the rough shape of a lowercase V and becomes more diffuse and darker red the farther away the material is from the core. Off to its right is a small, loose red circle with several bright white stars within it. The lower petal of the nebula is also deep red, appearing more like a triangle with one peak centered at the bottom. That edge peters out into deeper red and becomes more translucent the lower it goes. Below that, a short horizontal line of deep semi-transparent red material appears. There is a prominent orange orb center-left at the top, and a blue one toward the bottom a little farther left.

  4. The Pillars of Creation and the Interplay of Stars and Dust

    Videos
    This scientific visualization explores the iconic Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula and the various ways that stars and dust are intertwined in the process of star formation. In developing the contextual...
    Mosaic of the Pillars of Creation visualization model, composed of 4 rectangular strips oriented 45 degrees clockwise from vertical. Strips alternate between Hubble and Webb views of the visualization model, with each strip labeled: “Hubble” at lower right corners of first and third strips; “Webb” at upper left corners of the second and fourth strips. Webb strips have drop shadows that make it look like they are overlaid on top of larger Hubble image. Mosaic shows 3 vertical structures (pillars) of thick smoke-like material. Pillar edges are glowing, with thin wisps of material moving away into space. In Hubble strips, pillars are dark brown and opaque, on greenish blue background. In Webb strips, pillars are bright orange to brown with a distinct area of bright red at the top of middle pillar. A red star appears at the tip of a peak in the left pillar and the background is deep blue.

  5. Pillars of Creation 3D Model

    3D Object
    The Pillars of Creation are a formation of long thin dust clouds in the Eagle Nebula. They have been showcased in exquisite images from both the Hubble and Webb space telescopes. Their nickname derives...
    Photograph of a 3D printed model of the Pillars of Creation. The model is light gray with a silk-like texture, and the background is white. The three pillars rise up from a base that has a pancake-dome shape. The base is rotated about 60 degrees clockwise from the typical left-to-right orientation: The tallest pillar is at the back left at about 11 o’clock; the shortest is in the foreground right, at about 5 o’clock. The model is lit from several different angles to highlight the details. The pillars cast faint shadows toward the lower left. The pillars are craggy and stalagmite-like. The surfaces are smooth in some places, and pitted and grooved in others. Some edges are rounded and some appear sharp and jagged. The tall pillar at the back left and the middle pillar are solid all the way to the base. The small pillar at the front right is connected to the base by a web-like lattice made out of the same material as the rest of the model.

  6. Stephan's Quintet: A Multi-wavelength Exploration

    Sonification | Videos
    This visualization explores the galaxy group Stephan's Quintet by using observations in visible, infrared, and X-ray light. The sequence contrasts images from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer...
    Four galaxies appear close to each other in the sky: two in the middle, one toward the top, and one to the upper left. The galaxies appear to be touching. The galaxies are large relative to the hundreds of much smaller (more distant) galaxies in the background. All four galaxies have bright white cores and have streaks of blue and red. Some of the galaxies are peppered with white dust-like specks. Each galaxy is unique in size, shape, structure, and exact coloring. Scattered across the image, in front of the galaxies, are a number of foreground stars with diffraction spikes: bright white points, each with eight bright lines radiating out from the center.

  7. Eta Carinae: The Great Eruption of a Massive Star

    Videos
    Eta Carinae, or Eta Car, is famous for a brilliant and unusual outburst, called the "Great Eruption," observed in the 1840s. This visualization presents the story of that event and examines the...
    Eta Carinae

  8. Ultra Deep Field: Looking Out into Space, Looking Back into Time

    Videos
    This six-minute visual exploration of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field showcases the characteristics and contents of this landmark observation, as well as its four-dimensional nature across both space and time....
    Ultra Deep Field

  9. Crab Nebula: The Multiwavelength Structure of a Pulsar Wind Nebula

    Videos
    This visualization features a three-dimensional multiwavelength representation of the Crab Nebula, an iconic remnant of a star that was seen exploding in the year 1054 AD. This is a view looking into the...
    Crab Nebula

  10. Shedding New Light on the Whirlpool Galaxy

    Videos
    The Whirlpool Galaxy is a magnificent spiral galaxy that has been studied across the electromagnetic spectrum by NASA's Great Observatories. This remarkable video uses two-dimensional images and three-dimensional...
    Shedding New Light on the Whirlpool Galaxy

  11. Flight Through the Orion Nebula in Visible and Infrared Light

    Videos
    This visualization explores the Orion Nebula using both visible and infrared light. The sequence begins with a wide-field view of the sky showing the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy, then zooms down to the...
    Flight Through the Orion Nebula in Visible and Infrared Light

  12. Flight Through the Orion Nebula in Visible Light (Dome Version)

    Videos
    This version of "Flight Through the Orion Nebula in Visible Light" has been rendered onto a hemispherical format (azimuthal equidistant projection) for use in planetarium domes. The black circular...
    Orion Nebula in Visible Light

  13. Flight Through the Orion Nebula in Visible and Infrared Light (Dome Version)

    Videos
    This version of "Flight Through the Orion Nebula in Visible and Infrared Light" has been rendered onto a hemispherical format (azimuthal equidistant projection) for use in planetarium domes....
    Orion Nebula in Visible and Infrared Light (Dome)

  14. Flight Through the Orion Nebula in Infrared Light (Dome Version)

    Videos
    This version of "Flight Through the Orion Nebula in Infrared Light" has been rendered onto a hemispherical format (azimuthal equidistant projection) for use in planetarium domes. The black circular...
    Orion Nebula in Infrared Light (Dome)

  15. Journey into the Orion Nebula (360 Video)

    Videos
    This movie is formatted for 360 Video. On YouTube, use the mouse to scroll the view. For full immersion, watch using a virtual reality device and a 360-video player. This visualization journeys into the...
    Orion Nebula