A close galactic pair

Esahubble_heic1709a_1024

esahubble_heic1709a April 20th, 2017

Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Mutchler (STScI)

This image displays the galaxies NGC 4302 seen edge-on and NGC 4298, both located 55 million light-years away. They were observed by Hubble to celebrate its 27th year in orbit. The galaxy NGC 4298 is seen almost face-on, allowing us to see its spiral arms and the blue patches of ongoing star formation and young stars. In the edge-on disc of NGC 4302 huge swathes of dust are responsible for the mottled brown patterns, but a burst of blue to the left side of the galaxy indicates a region of extremely vigorous star formation. The image is a mosaic of four separate captures from Hubble, taken between 2 and 22 January 2017, that have been stitched together to give this amazing field of view. Two different types of light emitted by the galaxies visible and near-infrared have been combined to give a rich and colourful image. This light was captured by Hubbles Wide Field Camera 3, one of the telescopes most advanced imaging instruments.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1709a/

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 4298 NGC 4302
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Interacting
Esahubble_heic1709a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 12h 21m 38.0s
DEC = 14° 35’ 47.7”
Orientation
North is 9.7° CCW
Field of View
4.9 x 5.2 arcminutes
Constellation
Coma Berenices

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (WFC3) Optical (R) 625.0 nm
Yellow Hubble (WFC3) Optical (V) 555.0 nm
Blue Hubble (WFC3) Optical (B) 475.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Yellow
Blue
Esahubble_heic1709a_1280
×
ID
heic1709a
Subject Category
C.5.1.7  
Subject Name
NGC 4298, NGC 4302
Credits
NASA, ESA, and M. Mutchler (STScI)
Release Date
2017-04-20T16:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1709a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
WFC3, WFC3, WFC3
Color Assignment
Red, Yellow, Blue
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
R, V, B
Central Wavelength
625, 555, 475
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
185.408530638, 14.5965754086
Reference Dimension
7345.0, 7853.0
Reference Pixel
3672.5, 3926.5
Scale
-1.11401948062e-05, 1.11401948062e-05
Rotation
9.67999999999999
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
heic1709a
Metadata Date
2017-04-03T12:25:45+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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