Extragalactic peculiarity

Esahubble_potw1516a_1024

esahubble_potw1516a April 20th, 2015

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

This galaxy goes by the name of ESO 162-17 and is located about 40 million light-years away in the constellation of Carina. At first glance this image seems like a fairly standard picture of a galaxy with dark patches of dust and bright patches of young, blue stars. However, a closer look reveals several peculiar features. Firstly, ESO 162-17 is what is known as a peculiar galaxy a galaxy that has gone through interactions with its cosmic neighbours, resulting in an unusual amount of dust and gas, an irregular shape, or a strange composition. Secondly, on 23 February 2010 astronomers observed the supernova known as SN 2010ae nestled within this galaxy. The supernova belongs to a recently discovered class of supernovae called Type Iax supernovae. This class of objects is related to the better knownType-Ia supernovae. Type Ia supernovae result when a white dwarf accumulates enough mass either from a companion or, rarely, through collision with another white dwarf, to initiate a catastrophic collapse followed by a spectacular explosion as a supernova. Type Iax supernovae also involve a white dwarf as the central star, but in this case it may survive the event. Type Iax supernovae are much fainter and rarer than Type Ia supernovae, and their exact mechanism is still a matter of open debate. The rather beautiful four-pointed shape of foreground stars distributed around ESO 162-17 also draws the eye. This is an optical effect introduced as the incoming light is diffracted by the four struts that support the Hubble Space Telescopes small secondary mirror.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1516a/

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 162-17
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Irregular
Esahubble_potw1516a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 7h 15m 54.1s
DEC = -57° 20’ 33.8”
Orientation
North is 134.8° CW
Field of View
3.4 x 1.5 arcminutes
Constellation
Carina

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Purple Hubble (ACS) Optical (B) 435.0 nm
Blue Hubble (ACS) Optical (V) 555.0 nm
Green Hubble (ACS) Optical (R) 625.0 nm
Red Hubble (ACS) Infrared (I) 814.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Purple
Blue
Green
Red
Esahubble_potw1516a_1280
×
ID
potw1516a
Subject Category
C.5.1.6  
Subject Name
ESO 162-17
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA
Release Date
2015-04-20T10:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1516a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
ACS, ACS, ACS, ACS
Color Assignment
Purple, Blue, Green, Red
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical, Infrared
Bandpass
B, V, R, I
Central Wavelength
435, 555, 625, 814
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
108.975518099, -57.3427189515
Reference Dimension
4042.0, 1819.0
Reference Pixel
2021.0, 909.0
Scale
-1.38728146075e-05, 1.38728146075e-05
Rotation
-134.7999999999997
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
potw1516a
Metadata Date
2014-09-05T18:45:07+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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