Astrophysics Multiwavelength Vertical Video

  • Released Tuesday, May 27, 2025
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Westerlund 1 Multiwavelength Reel

Westerlund 1 is a massive cluster of young stars located in our Milky Way galaxy. This super star cluster has more than 10,000 times our Sun’s mass, and it contains a larger number of rare stars than many other clusters.

Though it’s the closest, largest, and most luminous cluster in the galaxy, Westerlund 1 actually isn’t visible to the unaided eye. It’s surrounded by thick clouds of gas and dust. Many space- and ground-based telescopes have peered at cosmic activities occurring in Westerlund 1 in various wavelengths of light. For example, recently our Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope helped astronomers trace a budding outflow of gas pouring out from Westerlund 1.

Image credits:

  1. ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb), M. G. Guarcello (INAF-OAPA) and the EWOCS team
  2. ESA/Hubble & NASA
  3. ESO
  4. NASA/ESA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare
  5. NASA/CXC/INAF/M. Guarcello et al.; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare
  6. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Lemoine-Goumard et al. 2025

Music: “Underwater,” Laswell, Ambient Dreams

Complete transcript available.

Story and individual images can be found [here](https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14930/){target=_blank}. Visual description: 0:00 The sparkling stars of Westerlund 1 fill the screen with shimmering, colorful dots in an infrared view from @NASAWebb. The brightest have thin spikes of light extending from them, many of which overlap. 0:02 The text “Westerlund 1: Multiwavelength” appears. 0:09 The cluster of stars shines brightly in light blue in the shape of a footprint, with a smaller number of stars marked with spikes of light in an optical and infrared view from @NASAHubble. 0:14 The optical and infrared view from the Wide Field Imager on the European Southern Observatory’s MPG/ESO ground-based telescope shows a slightly fuzzier look at the star cluster, now appearing in shades of orange and red. 0:19 An optical view from Hubble shows a rainbow of stars with a handful that appear brighter and orb-like. 0:24 Stars dot a bright pink cloud surrounded by an orange glow and a small ball of teal and blue near the bottom in the X-ray view from @NASAChandraXray. 0:29 The image of Westerlund 1 then spins and zooms out to the gamma-ray view from Fermi. At the center is a bright orange blob shaped roughly like a bowling pin. It is surrounded by layers of red-orange and purple against a dark background. 0:35 The video fades to black with a NASA insignia.

M82 Multiwavelength Reel

This galaxy's center is sprouting new stars 10 times faster than our entire Milky Way.

Located 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major, M82 (also known as the Cigar galaxy) has intrigued astronomers since its discovery in 1774. Known as a starburst galaxy, M82’s frenzy of star formation will subside once it consumes or destroys the material needed to make more stars.

Many telescopes have taken a look at M82 in different wavelengths of light. By studying the structures and processes inside the galaxy, we gain more insight into how this star factory works.

Image credits:

  1. NASA, ESA, CXC, and JPL-Caltech
  2. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SAO/NOAO
  3. NASA/Swift/E. Hoversten, PSU
  4. NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA). Acknowledgment: J. Gallagher (University of Wisconsin), M. Mountain (STScI) and P. Puxley (NSF)
  5. NASA/JPL-Caltech/C. Engelbracht (University of Arizona)
  6. NRAO/AUI/NSF

Music: “Underwater,” Laswell, Ambient Dreams

Complete transcript available.

M33 Multiwavelength Reel

M33, or the Triangulum galaxy, is about half the size of our own Milky Way. It’s the second nearest spiral galaxy, after the Andromeda galaxy, and a prominent member of our Local Group of galaxies. Our perspective gives us a spectacular view of M33’s swirling structure, a vantage we lack for the Milky Way or Andromeda.

Many telescopes have taken a look at M33 in different wavelengths of light. These observations help astronomers make valuable comparisons to the Milky Way and learn about how galaxies form and evolve.

Data show vigorous star formation within M33. In some of these images, you can even spot the bright glow of stellar nursery NGC 604 below the galaxy’s nucleus!

Credits:

  1. X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: Warren Keller, Mayhill, NM
  2. NASA/CXC/SAO
  3. NASA/Swift Science Team/Stefan Immler
  4. NASA/JPL-Caltech
  5. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Ariz.
  6. NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA
  7. ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech/GBT/VLA/IRAM/C. Clark (STScI)

Music: “Underwater,” Lasswell, Ambient Dreams

Complete transcript available.

Crab Nebula Multiwavelength Reel

For most of human history, light was the only way we could study the universe. Our eyes were the first detectors, but over time we’ve invented technology to study all wavelengths of light, including those that our eyes can’t see.

By studying as many types of light as possible, we can learn even more about what’s going on in a cosmic object than we could studying just one. In this sequence of colorful images of the Crab Nebula, observations from NASA's Chandra X-ray Space Telescope (X-ray), NASA's Hubble (visible), and Spitzer (infrared) telescopes are combined with data from the EuropeanSpaceAgency (ESA) XMM-Newton (ultraviolet) and the National Radio Astronomy Very Large Array (radio). By working together, they help us study the remains of a star whose supernova explosion was famously observed almost a thousand years ago.

Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/STScI; Infrared: NASA/JPL/Caltech; Radio: NSF/NRAO/VLA; Ultraviolet: ESA/XMM-Newton

Music: "Entropy," Anton Sych, Sebastian Barnaby Robertson, and Vitalii Zinchenko, Universal Production Music

Find more content here.

Complete transcript available.

Credits

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. However, individual items should be credited as indicated above.

Missions

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This page was originally published on Tuesday, May 27, 2025.
This page was last updated on Tuesday, December 16, 2025 at 10:30 AM EST.