Recently, I took up an internship with Supros, a career-building platform, and in the internship, we took up an exciting project. Over here, I would like to share our findings.

The project was to generate an RGB Image of a Giant Molecular Cloud, called G305. Initially, we were given 2 bits of python code which when run with addons like APLpy, Numpy, Matplotlib, and Astropy, we could generate images. We edited out our code to create our first 3 images.

Before we move on to the results, I would like to give a little background on the work. A Giant Molecular Cloud is essentially just a nebula. The images that we generated were clicked by 3 different telescopes. 1: Herschel PACS, 2: GLM, 3: MSX.

Let’s now take a look at the three Images we generated:

HPACS 70

GLM 8

MSX 21

Now let’s take a look at our research:

GLM-8: Medium Infrared

HPACS-70: Far Infrared

MSX-21: Medium Infrared

These hypotheses are based on the values of the wavelengths in microns and how the image appears. For instance, infrared images show light penetrated through dense clusters like in the top right quadrant of HPACS-70. 

Final Research

According to me, the image MSX-21 represents short IR emission, which is colder than GLM-8, but still warm. This allows me to assume that this image represents hot gasses. Next, regarding the Infrared rays,  HPACS-70 appears to represent the colder gasses, as mid-wavelength infrared is about 966–362 K (693–89 °C), and that is relatively cooler compared to other parts of the image. Finally, if we talk about GLM-8, It can represent hot ionised gasses, as it is the shortest wavelength out of the three. Here is the final image:

There is an evident space between the right and left of the image. It is possible that the space is actually consumed by colder gasses as we are looking at an infrared image, but it is interesting to note that this space could have been caused by a stellar event extremely long ago. The reason that it is unlikely that the event was relatively recent is that clear markings such as arches or higher concentration around the inner edges would be visible. 

Further, if we refer to the RGB image here, then we see a high density of matter in the top right quadrant. This could mean that there are many new stars over there. The gas concentration is seen in the middle, and the interaction between the top and bottom left is as well.

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