Hubble spies NGC 4394

Esahubble_potw1618a_1024

esahubble_potw1618a May 2nd, 2016

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

Discovered in 1784 by the GermanBritish astronomer William Herschel, NGC 4394 is a barred spiral galaxy situated about 55 million light-years from Earth. The galaxy lies in the constellation of Coma Berenices (Berenice's Hair), and is considered to be a member of the Virgo Cluster. NGC 4394 is the archetypal barred spiral galaxy, with bright spiral arms emerging from the ends of a bar that cuts through the galaxys central bulge. These arms are peppered with young blue stars, dark filaments of cosmic dust, and bright, fuzzy regions of active star formation. At the centre of NGC 4394 lies a region of ionised gas known as a LINER. LINERs are active regions that display a characteristic set of emission lines in their spectra mostly weakly ionised atoms of oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur. Although LINER galaxies are relatively common, its still unclear where the energy comes from to ionise the gas. In most cases it is thought to be the influence of a black hole at the centre of the galaxy, but it could also be the result of a high level of star formation. In the case of NGC 4394, it is likely that gravitational interaction with a nearby neighbour has caused gas to flow into the galaxys central region, providing a new reservoir of material to fuel the black hole or to make new stars.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1618a/

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 4394
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Barred
Esahubble_potw1618a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 12h 25m 55.7s
DEC = 18° 12’ 49.0”
Orientation
North is 0.2° CCW
Field of View
3.1 x 3.3 arcminutes
Constellation
Coma Berenices

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Green Hubble (ACS) Infrared (I) 814.0 nm
Blue Hubble (WFC2) Optical (b) 450.0 nm
Blue Hubble (ACS) Optical (g) 475.0 nm
Green Hubble (WFC2) Optical (b) 450.0 nm
Green Hubble (ACS) Optical (g) 475.0 nm
Red Hubble (WFPC2) Infrared (I) 814.0 nm
Red Hubble (ACS) Infrared (I) 814.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Green
Blue
Blue
Green
Green
Red
Red
Esahubble_potw1618a_1280
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ID
potw1618a
Subject Category
C.5.1.2  
Subject Name
NGC 4394
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt (Geckzilla)
Release Date
2016-05-02T06:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1618a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
ACS, WFC2, ACS, WFC2, ACS, WFPC2, ACS
Color Assignment
Green, Blue, Blue, Green, Green, Red, Red
Band
Infrared, Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical, Infrared, Infrared
Bandpass
I, b, g, b, g, I, I
Central Wavelength
814, 450, 475, 450, 475, 814, 814
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
186.482278297, 18.2136012577
Reference Dimension
3662.0, 3950.0
Reference Pixel
1831.0, 1975.0
Scale
-1.38839504803e-05, 1.38839504803e-05
Rotation
0.16
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
potw1618a
Metadata Date
2015-10-06T13:53:17+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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