Cassiopeias unusual resident

Esahubble_potw1641a_1024

esahubble_potw1641a October 10th, 2016

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA and S. Smartt (Queen's University Belfast)

This image, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescopes Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, shows a spiral galaxy named NGC 278. This cosmic beauty lies some 38 million light-years away in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia (The Seated Queen). While NGC 278 may look serene, it is anything but. The galaxy is currently undergoing an immense burst of star formation. This flurry of activity is shown by the unmistakable blue-hued knots speckling the galaxys spiral arms, each of which marks a clump of hot newborn stars. However, NGC 278s star formation is somewhat unusual; it does not extend to the galaxys outer edges, but is only taking place within an inner ring some 6500 light-years across. This two-tiered structure is visible in this image while the galaxys centre is bright, its extremities are much darker. This odd configuration is thought to have been caused by a merger with a smaller, gas-rich galaxy while the turbulent event ignited the centre of NGC 278, the dusty remains of the small snack then dispersed into the galaxys outer regions. Whatever the cause, such a ring of star formation, called a nuclear ring, is extremely unusual in galaxies without a bar at their centre, making NGC 278 a very intriguing sight.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1641a/

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 278
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Spiral
Esahubble_potw1641a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 0h 52m 4.5s
DEC = 47° 33’ 1.4”
Orientation
North is up
Field of View
1.4 x 1.4 arcminutes
Constellation
Cassiopeia

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (WFPC2) Infrared (I) 814.0 nm
Green Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (V) 606.0 nm
Blue Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (B) 450.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Green
Blue
Esahubble_potw1641a_1280
×
ID
potw1641a
Subject Category
C.5.1.1  
Subject Name
NGC 278
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA and S. Smartt (Queen's University Belfast)
Release Date
2016-10-10T06:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1641a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
WFPC2, WFPC2, WFPC2
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue
Band
Infrared, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
I, V, B
Central Wavelength
814, 606, 450
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
13.0186701859, 47.550396551
Reference Dimension
868.0, 868.0
Reference Pixel
434.0, 434.0
Scale
-2.77873622582e-05, 2.77873622582e-05
Rotation
-0
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
potw1641a
Metadata Date
2016-05-03T16:29:59+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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