The loneliest of galaxies

Esahubble_potw1545a_1024

esahubble_potw1545a November 9th, 2015

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA and N. Grogin (STScI) Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt

Only three local stars appear in this image, quartered by right-angled diffraction spikes. Everything besides them is a galaxy; floating like a swarm of microbes in a drop of water, and brought into view here not by a microscope, but by the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope. In the foreground, the spiral arms of MCG+01-02-015 seem to wrap around one another, cocooning the galaxy. The scene suggests an abundance of galactic companionship for MCG+01-02-015, but this is a cruel trick of perspective. Instead, MCG+01-02-015’s unsentimental naming befits its position within the cosmos: It is a void galaxy, the loneliest of galaxies. The vast majority of galaxies are strung out along galaxy filaments — thread-like formations that make up the large-scale structure of the Universe — drawn together by the influence of gravity into sinuous threads weaving through space. Between these filaments stretch shallow but immense voids; the Universe’s wastelands, where, outside of the extremely rare presence of a galaxy, there is very little matter — about one atom per cubic metre. One such desolate stretch of space is what MCG+01-02-015 reluctantly calls home. The galaxy is so isolated that if our galaxy, the Milky Way, were to be situated in the same way, we would not have known of the existence of other galaxies until the 1960s.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://esahubble.org/images/potw1545a/

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

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
MCG+01-02-015
Subject - General
Galaxy
Esahubble_potw1545a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 0h 30m 28.7s
DEC = 5° 51’ 40.6”
Orientation
North is 46.9° CW
Field of View
3.1 x 1.7 arcminutes
Constellation
Pisces

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (ACS) Optical (814W) 794.0 nm
Green Hubble (ACS) Optical (814W) 794.0 nm
Green Hubble (ACS) Optical (606W) 595.0 nm
Blue Hubble (ACS) Optical (606W) 595.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Green
Green
Blue
Esahubble_potw1545a_1280
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ID
potw1545a
Subject Category
E.5  
Subject Name
MCG+01-02-015
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA and N. Grogin (STScI) Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt
Release Date
2015-11-09T10:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://esahubble.org/images/potw1545a/
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
Red, Green, Green, Blue
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
814W, 814W, 606W, 606W
Central Wavelength
794, 794, 595, 595
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
7.61939682013, 5.86128588553
Reference Dimension
3726.0, 1982.0
Reference Pixel
1863.0, 991.0
Scale
-1.38899316058e-05, 1.38899316058e-05
Rotation
-46.940000000000026
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
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
potw1545a
Metadata Date
2015-06-17T12:04:03+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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