File:Extragalactic Space Balls.jpg

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English: For the first time, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has detected little spheres of carbon, called buckyballs, in a galaxy beyond our Milky Way galaxy. The space balls were detected in a dying star, called a planetary nebula, within the nearby galaxy, the Small Magellanic Cloud. What's more, huge quantities were found -- the equivalent in mass to 15 of our moons.

An infrared photo of the Small Magellanic Cloud taken by Spitzer is shown here in this artist's illustration, with two callouts. The middle callout shows a magnified view of an example of a planetary nebula, and the right callout shows an even further magnified depiction of buckyballs, which consist of 60 carbon atoms arranged like soccer balls.

In July 2010, astronomers reported using Spitzer to find the first confirmed proof of buckyballs. Since then, Spitzer has detected the molecules again in our own galaxy -- as well as in the Small Magellanic Cloud.
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Source http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/3420-ssc2010-09a-Extragalactic-Space-Balls
Author NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (SSC/Caltech)

Image use policy: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/info/18-Image-Use-Policy

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Public domain This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy.)
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current19:34, 13 June 2011Thumbnail for version as of 19:34, 13 June 20111,500 × 1,159 (393 KB)Spitzersteph (talk | contribs)

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