Evolution in slow motion

Esahubble_potw1537a_1024

esahubble_potw1537a September 14th, 2015

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt (geckzilla.com)

It is known today that merging galaxies play a large role in the evolution of galaxies and the formation of elliptical galaxies in particular. However there are only a few merging systems close enough to be observed in depth. The pair of interacting galaxies picture seen here known as NGC 3921 is one of these systems. NGC 3921 found in the constellation of Ursa Major (The Great Bear) is an interacting pair of disc galaxies in the late stages of its merger. Observations show that both of the galaxies involved were about the same mass and collided about 700 million years ago. You can see clearly in this image the disturbed morphology, tails and loops characteristic of a post-merger. The clash of galaxies caused a rush of star formation and previous Hubble observations showed over 1000 bright, young star clusters bursting to life at the heart of the galaxy pair.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1537a/

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 3921
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Interacting
Esahubble_potw1537a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 11h 51m 7.1s
DEC = 55° 4’ 45.1”
Orientation
North is 147.8° CCW
Field of View
2.7 x 2.6 arcminutes
Constellation
Ursa Major

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (555W) 540.0 nm
Green Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (555W) 540.0 nm
Green Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (814W) 794.0 nm
Red Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (814W) 794.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Blue
Green
Green
Red
Esahubble_potw1537a_1280
×
ID
potw1537a
Subject Category
C.5.1.7  
Subject Name
NGC 3921
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt (geckzilla.com)
Release Date
2015-09-14T10:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1537a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
WFPC2, WFPC2, WFPC2, WFPC2
Color Assignment
Blue, Green, Green, Red
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
555W, 555W, 814W, 814W
Central Wavelength
540, 540, 794, 794
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
177.779658606, 55.0791970413
Reference Dimension
4130.0, 3954.0
Reference Pixel
2065.0, 1977.0
Scale
-1.10097201187e-05, 1.10097201187e-05
Rotation
147.79999999999995
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
potw1537a
Metadata Date
2015-05-19T16:52:25+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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