Two become one

Esahubble_potw1552a_1024

esahubble_potw1552a December 28th, 2015

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

This image, taken with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 on board the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows the galaxy NGC 6052, located around 230 million light-years away in the constellation of Hercules. It would be reasonable to think of this as a single abnormal galaxy, and it was originally classified as such. However, it is in fact a new galaxy in the process of forming. Two separate galaxies have been gradually drawn together, attracted by gravity, and have collided. We now see them merging into a single structure. As the merging process continues, individual stars are thrown out of their original orbits and placed onto entirely new paths, some very distant from the region of the collision itself. Since the stars produce the light we see, the galaxy now appears to have a highly chaotic shape. Eventually, this new galaxy will settle down into a stable shape, which may not resemble either of the two original galaxies.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1552a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
NGC 6052
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Interacting
Esahubble_potw1552a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 16h 5m 13.0s
DEC = 20° 32’ 33.7”
Orientation
North is 38.2° CCW
Field of View
0.5 x 0.6 arcminutes
Constellation
Hercules

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue Hubble (WFC2) Ultraviolet (B) 300.0 nm
Green Hubble (WFC2) Optical (V) 555.0 nm
Red Hubble (WFC2) Optical (R) 702.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Blue
Green
Red
Esahubble_potw1552a_1280
×
ID
potw1552a
Subject Category
C.5.1.7  
Subject Name
NGC 6052
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt (Geckzilla)
Release Date
2015-12-28T06:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1552a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
WFC2, WFC2, WFC2
Color Assignment
Blue, Green, Red
Band
Ultraviolet, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
B, V, R
Central Wavelength
300, 555, 702
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
241.30412471, 20.5427029764
Reference Dimension
622.0, 666.0
Reference Pixel
311.0, 333.0
Scale
-1.39131396062e-05, 1.39131396062e-05
Rotation
38.15999999999989
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
potw1552a
Metadata Date
2015-08-28T13:05:19+02:00
Metadata Version
1.1
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×

There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

Providers | Sign In