Hubble portrays a dusty spiral galaxy

Esahubble_potw1239a_1024

esahubble_potw1239a September 24th, 2012

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA. Acknowledgement: Luca Limatola

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has provided us with another outstanding image of a nearby galaxy. This week, we highlight the galaxy NGC 4183, seen here with a beautiful backdrop of distant galaxies and nearby stars. Located about 55 million light-years from the Sun and spanning about eighty thousand light-years, NGC 4183 is a little smaller than the Milky Way. This galaxy, which belongs to the Ursa Major Group, lies in the northern constellation of Canes Venatici (The Hunting Dogs). NGC 4183 is a spiral galaxy with a faint core and an open spiral structure. Unfortunately, this galaxy is viewed edge-on from the Earth, and we cannot fully appreciate its spiral arms. But we can admire its galactic disc. The discs of galaxies are mainly composed of gas, dust and stars. There is evidence of dust over the galactic plane, visible as dark intricate filaments that block the visible light from the core of the galaxy. In addition, recent studies suggest that this galaxy may have a bar structure. Galactic bars are thought to act as a mechanism that channels gas from the spiral arms to the centre, enhancing star formation, which is typically more pronounced in the spiral arms than in the bulge of the galaxy. British astronomer William Herschel first observed NGC 4183 on 14 January 1778. This picture was created from visible and infrared images taken with the Wide Field Channel of the Advanced Camera for Surveys. The field of view is approximately 3.4 arcminutes wide. This image uses data identified by Luca Limatola in the Hubble's Hidden Treasures image processing competition.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1239a/

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 4183
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Spiral
Esahubble_potw1239a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 12h 13m 16.2s
DEC = 43° 42’ 11.2”
Orientation
North is 111.6° CW
Field of View
3.2 x 2.6 arcminutes
Constellation
Canes Venatici

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (ACS) Optical (I) -
Green Hubble (ACS) Optical (Pseudogreen (R+I)) -
Blue Hubble (ACS) Optical (R) -
Esahubble_potw1239a_1280
×
ID
potw1239a
Subject Category
C.5.1.1  
Subject Name
NGC 4183
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA. Acknowledgement: Luca Limatola
Release Date
2012-09-24T10:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1239a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
from NED
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
ACS, ACS, ACS
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
I, Pseudogreen (R+I), R
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
183.317362715, 43.7031123814
Reference Dimension
3877.0, 3111.0
Reference Pixel
1938.0, 1555.0
Scale
-1.38829254562e-05, 1.38829254562e-05
Rotation
-111.64000000000006
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
potw1239a
Metadata Date
2012-07-27T09:50:10+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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