A swirl of star formation

Esahubble_potw1320a_1024

esahubble_potw1320a May 20th, 2013

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Hayes 

This beautiful, glittering swirl is named, rather unpoetically, J125013.50+073441.5. A glowing haze of material seems to engulf the galaxy, stretching out into space in different directions and forming a fuzzy streak in this image. It is a starburst galaxy a name given to galaxies that show unusually high rates of star formation. The regions where new stars are being born are highlighted by sparkling bright blue regions along the galactic arms. Studying starburst galaxies can tell us a lot about galactic evolution and star formation. These galaxies start off with huge amounts of gas, which is used to form new stars. This period of furious star formation is only a phase; once all the gas is used up, this starbirth slows down. Other famous starbursts captured by Hubble include the Antennae Galaxies and Messier 82, the latter of which is forming new stars ten times faster than our galaxy, the Milky Way. The data for this image were collected as part of a study named LARS (Lyman Alpha Reference Sample) [1], which is investigating the interaction between radiation and matter in relatively nearby starburst galaxies. J125013.50+073441.5 is included as one of its fourteen targets. This study has characterised how a certain type of emission known as Lyman-alpha emission interacts with nearby gas, affecting how it travels out into space. The data for this image were collected using Hubbles Wide Field Camera 3. More information [1] Hayes, stlin et al., The Lyman Alpha Reference Sample: extended Lyman alpha halos produced at low dust content, The Astrophysical Journal, 2013.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1320a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
J125013.50+073441.5
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Activity > Starburst
Esahubble_potw1320a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 12h 50m 14.6s
DEC = 7° 34’ 44.7”
Orientation
North is 0.8° CCW
Field of View
1.7 x 1.2 arcminutes
Constellation
Virgo

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (WFC3) Infrared (I) 775.0 nm
Green Hubble (WFC3) Optical (V) 438.0 nm
Blue Hubble (WFC3) Ultraviolet (U) 336.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Green
Blue
Esahubble_potw1320a_1280
×
ID
potw1320a
Subject Category
C.5.3.3  
Subject Name
J125013.50+073441.5
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Hayes 
Release Date
2013-05-20T10:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1320a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
WFC3, WFC3, WFC3
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue
Band
Infrared, Optical, Ultraviolet
Bandpass
I, V, U
Central Wavelength
775, 438, 336
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
192.560898327, 7.57907858984
Reference Dimension
2603.0, 1862.0
Reference Pixel
1301.0, 931.0
Scale
-1.09477016122e-05, 1.09477016122e-05
Rotation
0.80000000000000027
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
potw1320a
Metadata Date
2013-03-19T15:57:40+01:00
Metadata Version
1.1
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×

There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

Providers | Sign In