One from many

Esahubble_potw1605a_1024

esahubble_potw1605a February 1st, 2016

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

This image, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows a peculiar galaxy known as NGC 1487, lying about 30 million light-years away in the southern constellation of Eridanus. Rather than viewing a celestial object, it is actually better to think of this as an event. Here, we are witnessing two or more galaxies in the act of merging together to form a single new galaxy. Each progenitor has lost almost all traces of its original appearance, as stars and gas have been thrown hither and thither by gravity in an elaborate cosmic whirl. Unless one is very much bigger than the other, galaxies are always disrupted by the violence of the merging process. As a result, it is very difficult to determine precisely what the original galaxies looked like and, indeed, how many of them there were. In this case, it is possible that we are seeing the merger of several dwarf galaxies that were previously clumped together in a small group. Although older yellow and red stars can be seen in the outer regions of the new galaxy, its appearance is dominated by large areas of bright blue stars, illuminating the patches of gas that gave them life. This burst of star formation may well have been triggered by the merger.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1605a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Download Options

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
NGC 1487
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Irregular
Galaxy > Type > Interacting
Esahubble_potw1605a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 3h 55m 44.4s
DEC = -42° 21’ 45.7”
Orientation
North is 35.3° CW
Field of View
2.4 x 1.9 arcminutes
Constellation
Eridanus

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (B) 450.0 nm
Green Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (V) 606.0 nm
Red Hubble (WFPC2) Infrared (I) 814.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Blue
Green
Red
Esahubble_potw1605a_1280
×
ID
potw1605a
Subject Category
C.5.1.6   C.5.1.7  
Subject Name
NGC 1487
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt (Geckzilla)
Release Date
2016-02-01T06:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1605a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
NED
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
WFPC2, WFPC2, WFPC2
Color Assignment
Blue, Green, Red
Band
Optical, Optical, Infrared
Bandpass
B, V, I
Central Wavelength
450, 606, 814
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
58.9349203717, -42.3626911482
Reference Dimension
1428.0, 1170.0
Reference Pixel
714.0, 585.0
Scale
-2.77509336849e-05, 2.77509336849e-05
Rotation
-35.30000000000004
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
potw1605a
Metadata Date
2015-10-06T11:25:56+02:00
Metadata Version
1.1
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×

There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

Providers | Sign In