Mysterious supernovae

Esahubble_potw1736a_1024

esahubble_potw1736a September 4th, 2017

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

Like firecrackers lighting up the sky on New Years Eve, the majestic spiral arms of NGC 5559 are alight with new stars being born. NGC 5559 is a spiral galaxy, with spiral arms filled with gas and dust sweeping out around the bright galactic bulge. These arms are a rich environment for star formation, dotted with a festive array of colours including the newborn stars glowing blue as a result of their immensely high temperatures. NGC 5559 was discovered by astronomer William Herschel in 1785 and lies approximately 240 million light-years away in the northern constellation of Botes (the herdsman) In 2001, a calcium-rich supernova called 2001co was observed in NGC 5559. Calcium-rich supernovae (Ca-rich SNe) are described as fast-and-faint, as they're less luminous than other types of supernovae and also evolve more rapidly, to reveal spectra dominated by strong calcium lines. 2001co occurred within the disc of NGC 5559 near star-forming regions, but Ca-rich SNe are often observed at large distances from the nearest galaxy, raising curious questions about their progenitors.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1736a/

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 5559
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Spiral
Galaxy > Type > Spiral
Esahubble_potw1736a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 14h 19m 12.9s
DEC = 24° 47’ 55.3”
Orientation
North is 4.0° CW
Field of View
1.4 x 1.2 arcminutes
Constellation
Bootes

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue Hubble (WFC3) Optical (B) 438.0 nm
Green Hubble (WFC3) Optical (B) 438.0 nm
Green Hubble (WFC3) Optical (V) 606.0 nm
Red Hubble (WFC3) Optical (V) 606.0 nm
Red Hubble (WFC3) Optical (Redshifted H-Alpha+NII) 665.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Blue
Green
Green
Red
Red
Esahubble_potw1736a_1280
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ID
potw1736a
Subject Category
C.5.1.1   D.5.1.1  
Subject Name
NGC 5559
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA
Release Date
2017-09-04T06:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1736a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
WFC3, WFC3, WFC3, WFC3, WFC3
Color Assignment
Blue, Green, Green, Red, Red
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
B, B, V, V, Redshifted H-Alpha+NII
Central Wavelength
438, 438, 606, 606, 665
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
214.803553199, 24.7986888363
Reference Dimension
2047.0, 1841.0
Reference Pixel
1023.5, 920.5
Scale
-1.10087283519e-05, 1.10087283519e-05
Rotation
-3.9800000000000071
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
potw1736a
Metadata Date
2016-10-27T09:13:01+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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