A spiral galaxy in Hydra

Esahubble_potw1214a_1024

esahubble_potw1214a April 2nd, 2012

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows NGC 4980, a spiral galaxy in the southern constellation of Hydra. The shape of NGC 4980 appears slightly deformed, something which is often a sign of recent tidal interactions with another galaxy. In this galaxys case, however, this appears not to be the case as there are no other galaxies in its immediate vicinity. The image was produced as part of a research program into the nature of galactic bulges, the bright, dense, elliptical centres of galaxies. Classical bulges are relatively disordered, with stars orbiting the galactic centre in all directions. In contrast, in galaxies with so-called pseudobulges, or disc-type bulges, the movement of the spiral arms is preserved right to the centre of the galaxy. Although the spiral structure is relatively subtle in this image, scientists have shown that NGC 4980 has a disc-type bulge, and its rotating spiral structure extends to the very centre of the galaxy. Galaxies bright arms are the location of new star formation in spiral galaxies, and NGC 4980 is no exception. The galaxys arms are traced out by blue pockets of extremely hot newborn stars are visible across much of its disc. This sets it apart from the reddish galaxies visible in the background, which are distant elliptical galaxies made up of much older, and hence redder, stars. This image is composed of exposures taken in visible and infrared light by Hubbles Advanced Camera for Surveys. The image is approximately 3.3 by 1.5 arcminutes in size.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1214a/

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 4980
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Spiral
Esahubble_potw1214a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 13h 9m 9.9s
DEC = -28° 38’ 28.1”
Orientation
North is 112.2° CW
Field of View
2.6 x 1.5 arcminutes
Constellation
Hydra

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (ACS) Optical (I) -
Pseudocolor Hubble (ACS) Optical (B+I) -
Blue Hubble (ACS) Optical (B) -
Esahubble_potw1214a_1280
×
ID
potw1214a
Subject Category
C.5.1.1  
Subject Name
NGC 4980
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA
Release Date
2012-04-02T10:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1214a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
From http://arxiv.org/abs/0909.1556v1
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
ACS, ACS, ACS
Color Assignment
Red, Pseudocolor, Blue
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
I, B+I, B
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
197.291281081, -28.6411285631
Reference Dimension
3109.0, 1755.0
Reference Pixel
1554.0, 877.0
Scale
-1.39263032274e-05, 1.39263032274e-05
Rotation
-112.23999999999997
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
potw1214a
Metadata Date
2012-03-05T10:56:41+01:00
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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