Only visible to those with superhetrodyne receivers for eyes. Different colours are at different frequencies; changing the center frequency gives animation.
I cheated a lot for this one - field of view for the sky is about twice what it should be. The all-sky data is so low resolution it's not really useable except for very wide-angle shots.
What do the false colours mean?
ReplyDeleteThey're the different wavelengths at which the hydrogen was detected. Which also corresponds to the redshift (line of sight velocity) of the gas.
ReplyDeleteThe telescope detects hydrogen in about 300 different wavelength "channels" at the same time. So, for example, the first channel (shortest wavelength) might give the red component, the second (slightly longer wavelength) green, and the third blue (longest wavelength). Shifting which channels give which components (but always keeping each one offset by the same number of channels) gives the animation effect. Essentially what it's showing is the hydrogen in different parts of the galaxy.
Interesting.
ReplyDeleteSee also http://astrorhysy.blogspot.cz/2013/11/damn-thats-nice-piece-of-gas.html
ReplyDelete