Cosmic flying V of merging galaxies

Esahubble_potw1306a_1024

esahubble_potw1306a February 11th, 2013

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA 

This large flying V is actually two distinct objects a pair of interacting galaxies known as IC 2184. Both the galaxies are seen almost edge-on in the large, faint northern constellation of Camelopardalis (The Giraffe), and can be seen as bright streaks of light surrounded by the ghostly shapes of their tidal tails. These tidal tails are thin, elongated streams of gas, dust and stars that extend away from a galaxy into space. They occur when galaxies gravitationally interact with one another, and material is sheared from the outer edges of each body and flung out into space in opposite directions, forming two tails. They almost always appear curved, so when they are seen to be relatively straight, as in this image, it is clear that we are viewing the galaxies side-on. Also visible in this image are bursts of bright blue, pinpointing hot regions where the stars from both galaxies have begun to crash together during the merger. The image consists of visible and infrared observations from Hubbles Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. A version of this picture was entered into the Hubbles Hidden Treasures image-processing competition by contestant Serge Meunier.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1306a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
IC 2184
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Interacting
Esahubble_potw1306a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 7h 29m 26.0s
DEC = 72° 7’ 46.7”
Orientation
North is 40.7° CCW
Field of View
1.6 x 1.6 arcminutes
Constellation
Camelopardalis

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (WFPC2) Infrared (I) 814.0 nm
Green Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (V) 555.0 nm
Blue Hubble (WFPC2) Ultraviolet (U) 300.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Green
Blue
Esahubble_potw1306a_1280
×
ID
potw1306a
Subject Category
C.5.1.7  
Subject Name
IC 2184
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA 
Release Date
2013-02-11T10:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1306a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Redshift (NED)
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
WFPC2, WFPC2, WFPC2
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue
Band
Infrared, Optical, Ultraviolet
Bandpass
I, V, U
Central Wavelength
814, 555, 300
Start Time
Integration Time
1200, 1100, 1500
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
112.358321407, 72.1296331135
Reference Dimension
946.0, 946.0
Reference Pixel
473.0, 473.0
Scale
-2.77772541007e-05, 2.77772541007e-05
Rotation
40.719999999999963
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
potw1306a
Metadata Date
2013-01-18T10:25:05+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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