A galactic mega-merger

Esahubble_potw1602a_1024

esahubble_potw1602a January 11th, 2016

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt

The subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is known as NGC 3597. It is the product of a collision between two good-sized galaxies, and is slowly evolving to become a giant elliptical galaxy. This type of galaxy has grown more and more common as the Universe has evolved, with initially small galaxies merging and progressively building up into larger galactic structures over time. NGC 3597 is located approximately 150 million light-years away in the constellation of Crater (The Cup). Astronomers study NGC 3597 to learn more about how elliptical galaxies form many ellipticals began their lives far earlier in the history of the Universe. Older ellipticals are nicknamed red and dead by astronomers because these bloated galaxies are not anymore producing new, bluer, stars in ages, and are thus packed full of old and redder stellar populations. Before infirmity sets in, some freshly formed elliptical galaxies experience a final flush of youth, as is the case with NGC 3597. Galaxies smashing together pool their available gas and dust, triggering new rounds of star birth. Some of this material ends up in dense pockets initially called proto-globular clusters, dozens of which festoon NGC 3597. These pockets will go on to collapse and form fully-fledged globular clusters, large spheres that orbit the centres of galaxies like satellites, packed tightly full of millions of stars.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1602a/

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 3597
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Elliptical
Esahubble_potw1602a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 11h 14m 42.2s
DEC = -23° 43’ 41.2”
Orientation
North is 0.2° CW
Field of View
0.6 x 0.5 arcminutes
Constellation
Crater

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (B) 450.0 nm
Green Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (V) 555.0 nm
Orange Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (V) 606.0 nm
Red Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (R) 702.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Blue
Green
Orange
Red
Esahubble_potw1602a_1280
×
ID
potw1602a
Subject Category
C.5.1.4  
Subject Name
NGC 3597
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt
Release Date
2016-01-11T06:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1602a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
WFPC2, WFPC2, WFPC2, WFPC2
Color Assignment
Blue, Green, Orange, Red
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
B, V, V, R
Central Wavelength
450, 555, 606, 702
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
168.675665405, -23.7281187962
Reference Dimension
665.0, 632.0
Reference Pixel
332.0, 316.0
Scale
-1.39271994063e-05, 1.39271994063e-05
Rotation
-0.18000000000000002
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
potw1602a
Metadata Date
2015-12-17T18:10:05+01:00
Metadata Version
1.1
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×

There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

Providers | Sign In