An archetypal dwarf galaxy

Esahubble_potw1301a_1024

esahubble_potw1301a January 7th, 2013

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

The constellation of Ursa Major (The Great Bear) is home to Messier 101, the Pinwheel Galaxy. One of the biggest and brightest spiral galaxies in the night sky, Messier 101 is also the subject of one of Hubble's most famous images (heic0602). Like the Milky Way, Messier 101 is not alone, with smaller dwarf galaxies in its neighbourhood. NGC 5477, one of these dwarf galaxies in the Messier 101 group, is the subject of this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Without obvious structure, but with visible signs of ongoing starbirth, NGC 5477 looks much like an archetypal dwarf irregular galaxy. The bright nebulae that extend across much of the galaxy are clouds of glowing hydrogen gas in which new stars are forming. These glow pinkish red in real life, although the selection of green and infrared filters through which this image was taken makes them appear almost white. The observations were taken as part of a project to measure accurate distances to a range of galaxies within about 30 million light-years from Earth, by studying the brightness of red giant stars. In addition to NGC 5477, the image includes numerous galaxies in the background, including some that are visible right through NGC 5477. This serves as a reminder that galaxies, far from being solid, opaque objects, are actually largely made up of the empty space between their stars. This image is a combination of exposures taken through green and infrared filters using Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys. The field of view is approximately 3.3 by 3.3 arcminutes.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1301a/

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 5477
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Irregular
Galaxy > Size > Dwarf
Esahubble_potw1301a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 14h 5m 31.6s
DEC = 54° 27’ 42.9”
Orientation
North is 67.5° CW
Field of View
3.0 x 1.8 arcminutes
Constellation
Ursa Major

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Orange Hubble (ACS) Infrared (I) 814.0 nm
Cyan Hubble (ACS) Optical (V) 606.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Orange
Cyan
Esahubble_potw1301a_1280
×
ID
potw1301a
Subject Category
C.5.1.6   C.5.2.2  
Subject Name
NGC 5477
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA
Release Date
2013-01-07T10:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1301a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
distance from NED
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
ACS, ACS
Color Assignment
Orange, Cyan
Band
Infrared, Optical
Bandpass
I, V
Central Wavelength
814, 606
Start Time
Integration Time
900, 900
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
211.381829085, 54.4619234492
Reference Dimension
3625.0, 2183.0
Reference Pixel
1812.0, 1091.0
Scale
-1.39231995145e-05, 1.39231995145e-05
Rotation
-67.500000000000014
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
potw1301a
Metadata Date
2012-12-04T09:38:43+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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