The last waltz

Esahubble_potw1547a_1024

esahubble_potw1547a November 23rd, 2015

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt (Geckzilla)

This curious galaxy only known by the seemingly random jumble of letters and numbers 2MASX J16270254+4328340 has been captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope dancing the crazed dance of a galactic merger. The galaxy has merged with another galaxy leaving a fine mist, made of millions of stars, spewing from it in long trails. Despite the apparent chaos, this snapshot of the gravitational tango was captured towards the events conclusion. This transforming galaxy is heading into old age with its star-forming days coming to an end. The true drama occurred earlier in the process, when the various clouds of gas within the two galaxies were so disturbed by the event that they collapsed, triggering an eruption of star formation. This flurry of activity exhausted the vast majority of the galactic gas, leaving the galaxy sterile and unable to produce new stars. As the violence continues to subside, the newly formed galaxys population of stars will redden with age and eventually begin drop off one by one. With no future generations of stars to take their place, the galaxy thus begins a steady descent towards death.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1547a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
2MASX J16270254+4328340
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Interacting
Esahubble_potw1547a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 16h 27m 0.3s
DEC = 43° 28’ 40.9”
Orientation
North is 16.6° CW
Field of View
2.8 x 2.7 arcminutes
Constellation
Hercules

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Orange Hubble (WFC3) Optical (R) 625.0 nm
Cyan Hubble (WFC3) Optical (B) 438.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Orange
Cyan
Esahubble_potw1547a_1280
×
ID
potw1547a
Subject Category
C.5.1.7  
Subject Name
2MASX J16270254+4328340
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt (Geckzilla)
Release Date
2015-11-23T06:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1547a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
WFC3, WFC3
Color Assignment
Orange, Cyan
Band
Optical, Optical
Bandpass
R, B
Central Wavelength
625, 438
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
246.751265663, 43.4780334699
Reference Dimension
4265.0, 4049.0
Reference Pixel
2132.5, 2024.5
Scale
-1.10229871293e-05, 1.10229871293e-05
Rotation
-16.599999999999987
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
potw1547a
Metadata Date
2015-08-28T12:52:07+02:00
Metadata Version
1.1
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×

There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

Providers | Sign In