Astronomical vision test

Esahubble_potw1135a_1024

esahubble_potw1135a August 29th, 2011

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

Peering into the depths of space, the sharp-eyed NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has imaged the nearby but faint dwarf galaxy ESO 540-030. This object itself appears as a huge swarm of dim stars, but ESO 540-030 is actually just one point of interest in the picture. ESO 540-030 is just over 11 million light-years distant, and is part of the Sculptor group of galaxies. This collection is the closest neighbour to our own Local Group of galaxies that includes the Milky Way. Due to its proximity the Sculptor group contains some of the brightest galaxies in the southern skies, although ESO 540-030 is not one of these; dwarf galaxies generally have low surface brightness, which make observations difficult. Hubble has captured a snapshot of galaxy types in the background, with spirals, barred spirals, ellipticals and irregulars on display. Careful examination of this picture should allow examples of each galaxy type to be found. Some galaxies lie directly behind ESO 540-030, increasing the challenge. As well as the galaxies there are also five bright stars, which are much closer to us than the galaxies. The telltale diffraction spikes four sharp lines of light emanating at 90 degree angles, caused by light diffracting in the telescope are unmistakable signs of the stars in the picture. Cataloguing galaxy types is an important task for scientists attempting to understand more about how our Universe evolved. Our own eyes are excellent tools for this, as participants of the Galaxy Zoo Hubble project will confirm [1]. This picture was created from images taken with the Wide Field Channel of Hubbles Advanced Camera for Surveys. Images through a yellow-orange filter (F606W, coloured blue) were combined with images taken in the near-infrared (F814W, coloured red). The total exposure times were 4480 s and 3360 s, respectively and the field of view is about 3.1 arcminutes across. Links [1] http://www.galaxyzoo.org/

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1135a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
ESO 540-030
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Size > Dwarf
Esahubble_potw1135a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 0h 49m 22.3s
DEC = -18° 4’ 29.4”
Orientation
North is 103.1° CCW
Field of View
3.1 x 3.2 arcminutes
Constellation
Cetus

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (ACS) Infrared (I) -
Green Hubble (ACS) Optical (Pseudogreen (V+I)) -
Blue Hubble (ACS) Optical (V ) -
Esahubble_potw1135a_1280
×
ID
potw1135a
Subject Category
C.5.2.2  
Subject Name
ESO 540-030
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA
Release Date
2011-08-29T10:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1135a/
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 (V+I), V
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
12.3429453744, -18.0748227073
Reference Dimension
3681.0, 3823.0
Reference Pixel
1840.0, 1911.0
Scale
-1.38836816201e-05, 1.38836816201e-05
Rotation
103.09999999999989
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
potw1135a
Metadata Date
2011-04-06T10:57:10+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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