Starbursts in the wake of a fleeting romance

Esahubble_potw1419a_1024

esahubble_potw1419a May 12th, 2014

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA Acknowledgement: Kathy van Pelt

This image shows galaxy NGC 4485 in the constellation of Canes Venatici (The Hunting Dogs). The galaxy is irregular in shape, but it hasnt always been so. Part of NGC 4485 has been dragged towards a second galaxy, named NGC 4490 which lies out of frame to the bottom right of this image. Between them, these two galaxies make up a galaxy pair called Arp 269. Their interactions have warped them both, turning them from spiral galaxies into irregular ones. NGC 4485 is the smaller galaxy in this pair, which provides a fantastic real-world example for astronomers to compare to their computer models of galactic collisions. The most intense interaction between these two galaxies is all but over; they have made their closest approach and are now separating. The trail of bright stars and knotty orange clumps that we see here extending out from NGC 4485 is all that connects them a trail that spans some 24 000 light-years. Many of the stars in this connecting trail could never have existed without the galaxies fleeting romance. When galaxies interact hydrogen gas is shared between them, triggering intense bursts of star formation. The orange knots of light in this image are examples of such regions, clouded with gas and dust. A version of this image was entered into the Hubbles Hidden Treasures image processing competition by contestant Kathy van Pelt, and won sixth prize in the basic image searching category.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1419a/

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 4485 NGC 4490
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Irregular
Galaxy > Type > Interacting
Esahubble_potw1419a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 12h 30m 29.9s
DEC = 41° 41’ 37.4”
Orientation
North is 42.5° CCW
Field of View
2.9 x 1.6 arcminutes
Constellation
Canes Venatici

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Cyan Hubble (ACS) Optical (B) 435.0 nm
Orange Hubble (ACS) Optical (V) 606.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Cyan
Orange
Esahubble_potw1419a_1280
×
ID
potw1419a
Subject Category
C.5.1.6   C.5.1.7  
Subject Name
NGC 4485, NGC 4490
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA Acknowledgement: Kathy van Pelt
Release Date
2014-05-12T10:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1419a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
ACS, ACS
Color Assignment
Cyan, Orange
Band
Optical, Optical
Bandpass
B, V
Central Wavelength
435, 606
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
187.624471345, 41.693735231
Reference Dimension
3512.0, 1965.0
Reference Pixel
1756.0, 982.0
Scale
-1.39158279777e-05, 1.39158279777e-05
Rotation
42.459999999999859
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
potw1419a
Metadata Date
2014-01-03T19:31:35+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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