Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks
A recent rocket launch at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Poker Flat Facility is helping probe the formation of new stars. University of Colorado Astrophysicist Matt Beasly sent a camera up on a rocket late last month to photograph stars in the Whirlpool Galaxy. Beasly says the Far Ultraviolet Imaging Rocket Experiment or “FIRE” snapped pictures of the young galaxy, providing a window on where new stars are forming.
Beasly says that can help scientists understand the movement of the raw material of stars, gases still floating in the universe from its formation over 13 billion years ago.
Beasly says Fairbanks Poker Flat Rocket range provided an ideal spot to launch his rocket camera because the galaxy it photographed is directly overhead.
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