Hubble Finds Halloween Pumpkin Pair

Esahubble_opo2032a_1024

esahubble_opo2032a October 29th, 2020

Credit: NASA, ESA, and W. Keel (University of Alabama)

What looks like two glowing eyes and a crooked carved smile in this new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope snapshot is the early stages of a collision between two galaxies. Residing in the constellation Canis Major, the entire view is 109,000 light-years across, approximately the diameter of our Milky Way. The overall pumpkin-ish color corresponds to the glow of aging red stars in two galaxies, cataloged as NGC2292 and NGC2293, which only have a hint of spiral structure. The ghostly arm making the smile may be just the beginning of the process of rebuilding a spiral galaxy, say researchers. The arm embraces both galaxies. It most likely formed when interstellar gas was compressed as the two galaxies began to merge. The higher density precipitates new star formation. Link NASA Press Release

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo2032a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, None, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
NGC 2292 NGC 2293
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Interacting
Esahubble_opo2032a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 6h 47m 40.6s
DEC = -26° 45’ 16.7”
Orientation
North is 28.0° CW
Field of View
3.1 x 3.0 arcminutes
Constellation
Canis Major

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Luminosity Hubble (ACS/WFC) Optical (V) 606.0 nm
Cyan Pan-STARRS Optical (g) -
Orange Pan-STARRS Optical (z) -
Spectrum_xray1w
Luminosity
Esahubble_opo2032a_1280
×
ID
opo2032a
Subject Category
C.5.1.7  
Subject Name
NGC 2292, NGC 2293
Credits
NASA, ESA, and W. Keel (University of Alabama)
Release Date
2020-10-29T15:49:02.690070
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo2032a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble, Pan-STARRS, Pan-STARRS
Instrument
ACS/WFC, -, -
Color Assignment
Luminosity, Cyan, Orange
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
V, g, z
Central Wavelength
606, -, -
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
101.91928129, -26.7546266187
Reference Dimension
6196.0, 5901.0
Reference Pixel
3098.0, 2950.5
Scale
-8.33741317826723E-06, 8.33741317826723E-06
Rotation
-28.000000000000082
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Position
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
ESA/Hubble
URL
http://www.spacetelescope.org
Name
Space Telescope Science Institute Office of Public Outreach
Email
outreach@stsci.edu
Telephone
410-338-4444
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
None
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
opo2032a
Metadata Date
2020-10-26T16:49:53-04:00
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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