Feb. 10, 2009

J.D. Harrington
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-5241
j.d.harrington{at}nasa.gov

Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
410-338-4514
villard{at}stsci.edu

Whitney Clavin
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-4673
whitney.clavin{at}jpl.nasa.gov

Megan Watzke
Chandra X-ray Observatory Center, Cambridge, Mass.
617-496-7998
mwatzke{at}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

-end-
--- SBBSecho 2.12-Win32