I Zwicky 18: A Baby Galaxy in a Grown-Up Universe

Esahubble_opo0435a_1024

esahubble_opo0435a December 1st, 2004

Credit: NASA, ESA, Y. Izotov (Main Astronomical Observatory, Kyiv, UA) and T. Thuan (University of Virginia)

NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope snapped a view of what may be the youngest galaxy ever seen. This "late bloomer" may not have begun active star formation until about 13 billion years after the Big Bang. Called I Zwicky 18 [below, left], the galaxy may be as young as 500 million years old. This youngster has gone though several sudden bursts of star formation - the first only some 500 million years ago and the latest only 4 million years ago. This galaxy is typical of the kinds of galaxies that inhabited the early universe. The galaxy is classified as a dwarf irregular galaxy and is much smaller than our Milky Way.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo0435a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
I Zw 18
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Irregular
Galaxy > Size > Dwarf
Esahubble_opo0435a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 9h 34m 1.1s
DEC = 55° 14’ 33.0”
Orientation
North is 0.1° CCW
Field of View
0.8 x 0.8 arcminutes
Constellation
Ursa Major

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Orange Hubble (ACS) Infrared (I) 814.0 nm
Cyan Hubble (ACS) Optical (V) 555.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Orange
Cyan
Esahubble_opo0435a_1280
×
ID
opo0435a
Subject Category
C.5.1.6   C.5.2.2  
Subject Name
I Zw 18
Credits
NASA, ESA, Y. Izotov (Main Astronomical Observatory, Kyiv, UA) and T. Thuan (University of Virginia)
Release Date
2004-12-01T06:01:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo0435a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
ACS, ACS
Color Assignment
Orange, Cyan
Band
Infrared, Optical
Bandpass
I, V
Central Wavelength
814, 555
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
143.5044549, 55.2425108
Reference Dimension
981.0, 961.0
Reference Pixel
491.5, 481.5
Scale
1.39332242975e-05, 1.38918523523e-05
Rotation
0.099999999
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
WCS info from NASA/Hubble
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
opo0435a
Metadata Date
2004-11-23T13:02:26-05:00
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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