Hubble view of green filament in galaxy NGC 5972

Esahubble_heic1507c_1024

esahubble_heic1507c April 2nd, 2015

Credit: NASA, ESA, W. Keel (University of Alabama, USA)

Twisting in the darkness like a disturbed double helix, NGC 5972 exhibits a remarkable structure of ionised gas, which appears to be reeling in space as a result of a huge disturbance of some kind, possibly a merger with another galaxy. The sweeping trails of gas both H-alpha and doubly ionised Oxygen, which would both usually be expected in areas of star creation and destruction reach out into space far beyond the stars that comprise the main body of the galaxy so far, in fact, that when the Hubble Space Telescope applied the filter necessary to view the gas, it was unable to fit the entire extent of the clouds within its field of view, as seen in this original image. Aside from its intriguing tendrils, NGC 5972 also plays host to an active galactic nucleus. This means a supermassive black hole resides at the centre of the galaxy, and the accretion disc around this monsters genocidal jaws is rotated with such ferocity that twin beams of plasma are ejected in opposite directions out into the depths of space at close to the speed of light. Because of the vast sums of energy involved, this process can be imaged most effectively in the radio wavelengths, and doing so produces images of structures that are of indescribable magnitudes. Cygnus A provides perhaps the best illustration of this, as seen in this image taken by the NRAO Very Large Array, where the nucleus of the host galaxy appears as nothing more than an insignificant mote of dust, dwarfed by the jets and lobes of highly charged particles protruding outwards with spectacular flamboyance.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1507c/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
NGC 5972
Subject - Local Universe
Nebula > Appearance > Emission
Galaxy > Activity > AGN > Quasar
Esahubble_heic1507c_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 15h 38m 54.0s
DEC = 17° 1’ 37.5”
Orientation
North is 89.8° CCW
Field of View
1.7 x 1.7 arcminutes
Constellation
Serpens

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Cyan Hubble (ACS) (Oiii) -
Blue Hubble (WFC3) (R) -
Green Hubble (WFC3) (R+I) -
Red Hubble (WFC3) (I) -
Red Hubble (ACS) (H-alpha + Nii) -
Esahubble_heic1507c_1280
×
ID
heic1507c
Subject Category
C.4.2.1   C.5.3.2.1  
Subject Name
NGC 5972
Credits
NASA, ESA, W. Keel (University of Alabama, USA)
Release Date
2015-04-02T17:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1507c/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Various (n/a)
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
ACS, WFC3, WFC3, WFC3, ACS
Color Assignment
Cyan, Blue, Green, Red, Red
Band
Bandpass
Oiii, R, R+I, I, H-alpha + Nii
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
234.725174953, 17.0270774701
Reference Dimension
2001.0, 2001.0
Reference Pixel
1000.0, 1000.0
Scale
-1.37815330671e-05, 1.37815330671e-05
Rotation
89.8000000000001
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
heic1507c
Metadata Date
2014-12-02T16:54:31+01:00
Metadata Version
1.1
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×

There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

Providers | Sign In