A vapour of stars

Esahubble_potw1226a_1024

esahubble_potw1226a June 25th, 2012

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

Relatively few galaxies possess the sweeping, luminous spiral arms or brightly glowing centre of our home galaxy the Milky Way. In fact, most of the Universe's galaxies look like small, amorphous clouds of vapour. One of these galaxies is DDO 82, captured here in an image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Though tiny compared to the Milky Way, such dwarf galaxies still contain between a few million and a few billion stars. DDO 82, also known by the designation UGC 5692, is not without a hint of structure, however. Astronomers classify it as an Sm galaxy, or Magellanic spiral galaxy, named after the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy that orbits the Milky Way. That galaxy, like DDO 82, is said to have one spiral arm. In the case of DDO 82, gravitational interactions over its history seem to have discombobulated it so that this structure is not as evident as in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Accordingly, astronomers also refer to DDO 82 and others of a similar unshapely nature as dwarf irregular galaxies. DDO 82 can be found in the constellation of Ursa Major (the Great Bear) approximately 13 million light-years away. The object is considered part of the M81 Group of around three dozen galaxies. DDO 82 gets its name from its entry number in the David Dunlap Observatory Catalogue. Canadian astronomer Sidney van den Bergh originally compiled this list of dwarf galaxies in 1959. The image is made up of exposures taken in visible and infrared light by Hubbles Advanced Camera for Surveys. The field of view is approximately 3.3 by 3.3 arcminutes.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1226a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
DDO 82
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Size > Dwarf
Esahubble_potw1226a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 10h 30m 37.6s
DEC = 70° 37’ 2.7”
Orientation
North is 22.5° CCW
Field of View
3.2 x 3.4 arcminutes
Constellation
Ursa Major

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (ACS) Infrared (I) 814.0 nm
Green Hubble (ACS) Optical (V) 606.0 nm
Blue Hubble (ACS) Optical (B) 475.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Green
Blue
Esahubble_potw1226a_1280
×
ID
potw1226a
Subject Category
C.5.2.2  
Subject Name
DDO 82
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA
Release Date
2012-06-25T10:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1226a/
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, V, B
Central Wavelength
814, 606, 475
Start Time
Integration Time
2442, 2454, 2400
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
157.656552335, 70.6174174708
Reference Dimension
3861.0, 4053.0
Reference Pixel
1930.0, 2026.0
Scale
-1.38816288455e-05, 1.38816288455e-05
Rotation
22.539999999999967
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
potw1226a
Metadata Date
2012-03-21T13:34:29+01:00
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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