A galactic nursery

Esahubble_potw1529a_1024

esahubble_potw1529a July 20th, 2015

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

This dramatic image shows the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s view of dwarf galaxy known as NGC 1140, which lies 60 million light-years away in the constellation of Eridanus. As can be seen in this image NGC 1140 has an irregular form, much like the Large Magellanic Cloud — a small galaxy that orbits the Milky Way. This small galaxy is undergoing what is known as a starburst. Despite being almost ten times smaller than the Milky Way it is creating stars at about the same rate, with the equivalent of one star the size of the Sun being created per year. This is clearly visible in the image, which shows the galaxy illuminated by bright, blue-white, young stars. Galaxies like NGC 1140 — small, starbursting and containing large amounts of primordial gas with way fewer elements heavier than hydrogen and helium than present in our Sun — are of particular interest to astronomers. Their composition makes them similar to the intensely star-forming galaxies in the early Universe. And these early Universe galaxies were the building blocks of present-day large galaxies like our galaxy, the Milky Way. But, as they are so far away these early Universe galaxies are harder to study so these closer starbursting galaxies are a good substitute for learning more about galaxy evolution . The vigorous star formation will have a very destructive effect on this small dwarf galaxy in its future. When the larger stars in the galaxy die, and explode as supernovae, gas is blown into space and may easily escape the gravitational pull of the galaxy. The ejection of gas from the galaxy means it is throwing out its potential for future stars as this gas is one of the building blocks of star formation. NGC 1140’s starburst cannot last for long.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://esahubble.org/images/potw1529a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Baltimore, MD, United States

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
NGC 1140
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Size > Dwarf
Esahubble_potw1529a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 2h 54m 33.3s
DEC = -10° 1’ 49.4”
Orientation
North is 63.2° CCW
Field of View
1.9 x 1.4 arcminutes
Constellation
Eridanus

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (ACS) Optical (H-alpha) 658.0 nm
Orange Hubble (WFPC2) Infrared (I) 814.0 nm
Cyan Hubble (WFPC2) Ultraviolet (U) 300.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Orange
Cyan
Esahubble_potw1529a_1280
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ID
potw1529a
Subject Category
C.5.2.2  
Subject Name
NGC 1140
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA
Release Date
2015-07-20T10:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://esahubble.org/images/potw1529a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
ACS, WFPC2, WFPC2
Color Assignment
Red, Orange, Cyan
Band
Optical, Infrared, Ultraviolet
Bandpass
H-alpha, I, U
Central Wavelength
658, 814, 300
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
43.6388237626, -10.0303933069
Reference Dimension
1153.0, 821.0
Reference Pixel
576.5, 410.5
Scale
-2.74963289956e-05, 2.74963289956e-05
Rotation
63.239999999999966
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Data is calculated based on Simbad coordinates! Using this image as an overlay on a DSS background, a 5 arcsec (or so) difference is expected to be seen!
Creator (Curator)
ESA/Hubble
URL
https://esahubble.org
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
ESA Office, Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Dr
City
Baltimore
State/Province
MD
Postal Code
21218
Country
United States
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
potw1529a
Metadata Date
2015-03-13T11:02:24+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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