Hubble Space Telescope visible light image "blue blobs"

Esahubble_heic0801c_1024

esahubble_heic0801c January 8th, 2008

Credit: NASA, ESA, and D. de Mello (Catholic University of America/GSFC)

A Hubble Space Telescope visible light image of bright blue star clusters found along a wispy bridge of gas that was tidally stretched between the two galaxies, and a third companion galaxy not seen in this picture. This is not the place astronomers expect to find star clusters because the density of gas is so low. Turbulence in the gas may have enhanced the density locally to trigger starbirth. The so-called "blue blobs" are clumped together in a structure called Arp's Loop. Hubble reveals the clusters contain the equivalent of five Orion Nebulae. Analysis of the stellar population in the clusters yields an age of approximately 200 million years, which coincides with the epoch of the collision.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic0801c/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Holmberg IX M81 M82
Subject - Local Universe
Star > Grouping > Cluster
Esahubble_heic0801c_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 9h 57m 30.1s
DEC = 69° 16’ 43.7”
Orientation
North is 31.3° CCW
Field of View
2.2 x 1.6 arcminutes
Constellation
Ursa Major

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (ACS) Infrared (I) -
Green Hubble (ACS) Optical (Pseudogreen (B+I)) -
Blue Hubble (ACS) Optical (B) -
Esahubble_heic0801c_1280
×
ID
heic0801c
Subject Category
C.3.6.4  
Subject Name
Holmberg IX, M81, M82
Credits
NASA, ESA, and D. de Mello (Catholic University of America/GSFC)
Release Date
2008-01-08T20:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic0801c/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
ACS, ACS, ACS
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue
Band
Infrared, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
I, Pseudogreen (B+I), B
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
149.37535167, 69.2787919801
Reference Dimension
2586.0, 1935.0
Reference Pixel
1293.0, 967.5
Scale
-1.38993115077e-05, 1.38993115077e-05
Rotation
31.259999999999877
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
ESA/Hubble
URL
http://www.spacetelescope.org/
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
heic0801c
Metadata Date
2007-12-13T14:42:28-05:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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