Centaurus A halo

Esahubble_heic1415a_1024

esahubble_heic1415a July 22nd, 2014

Credit: Image credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA, Digitized Sky Survey, MPG/ESO Acknowledgement: Davide de Martin

This image shows the stunning elliptical galaxy Centaurus A. Recently, astronomers have used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to probe the outskirts of this galaxy to learn more about its dim halo of stars. The galaxys halo of stars has been found to reach much further than expected, extending across 4 degrees in the sky equivalent to eight times the apparent width of the Moon, or almost twice the width of this image. This image is a composite of images from Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2), the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope, and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescopes Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). The areas probed by Hubble are identified in the annotated version of this image. Hubbles unique capabilities allowed astronomers to analyse the faint stars in the halo.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1415a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Centaurus A
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Elliptical
Esahubble_heic1415a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 13h 25m 32.0s
DEC = -43° 1’ 35.8”
Orientation
North is 1.7° CW
Field of View
2.2 x 1.1 degrees
Constellation
Centaurus

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Green DSS (None) Optical (R) -
Blue DSS (None) Optical (B) -
Red DSS (None) Infrared (I) -
Blue MPG-2.2m (WFI) Optical (B) -
Green MPG-2.2m (WFI) Optical (V) -
Orange MPG-2.2m (WFI) Optical (R) -
Red MPG-2.2m (WFI) Optical (H-alpha) -
Blue MPG-2.2m (WFI) Optical (OIII) -
Orange Hubble (ACS) Infrared (I) -
Cyan Hubble (ACS) Optical (V) -
Esahubble_heic1415a_1280
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ID
heic1415a
Subject Category
C.5.1.4  
Subject Name
Centaurus A
Credits
Image credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA, Digitized Sky Survey, MPG/ESO Acknowledgement: Davide de Martin
Release Date
2014-07-22T16:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1415a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
DSS, DSS, DSS, MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope, MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope, MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope, MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope, MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
None, None, None, WFI, WFI, WFI, WFI, WFI, ACS, ACS
Color Assignment
Green, Blue, Red, Blue, Green, Orange, Red, Blue, Orange, Cyan
Band
Optical, Optical, Infrared, Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical, Infrared, Optical
Bandpass
R, B, I, B, V, R, H-alpha, OIII, I, V
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
201.383383868, -43.0266185227
Reference Dimension
7678.0, 3982.0
Reference Pixel
3839.0, 1991.0
Scale
-0.000283117419681, 0.000283117419681
Rotation
-1.7000000000000011
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
heic1415a
Metadata Date
2014-07-17T16:20:46+02:00
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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