Bars and Baby Stars

Esahubble_potw2004a_1024

esahubble_potw2004a January 27th, 2020

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Riess et al.

The galaxy depicted in this Picture of the Week is a barred spiral known as NGC 7541, seen here as viewed by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, in the constellation of Pisces (The Fishes). A barred spiral is a galaxy with whirling, pinwheeling, spiral arms, and a bright centre that is intersected by a bar of gas and stars. This bar cuts directly through the galaxys central region, and is thought to invigorate the region somewhat, sparking activity and fuelling myriad processes that may otherwise have never occurred or have previously ground to a halt (star formation and active galactic nuclei being key examples). We think bars exist in up to two-thirds of all spiral galaxies, including our own home, the Milky Way. NGC 7541 is actually observed to have a higher-than-usual star formation rate, adding weight to the theory that spiral bars act as stellar nurseries, corralling and funnelling inwards the material and fuel needed to create and nurture new baby stars. Along with its nearby companion NGC 7537, the galaxy makes up a pair of galaxies located about 110 million light-years away from us.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw2004a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, None, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
NGC 7541
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Spiral
Esahubble_potw2004a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 23h 14m 43.7s
DEC = 4° 31’ 58.5”
Orientation
North is 25.9° CW
Field of View
2.7 x 1.9 arcminutes
Constellation
Pisces

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (WFC3) Infrared (H) 1.6 µm
Orange Hubble (ACS) Optical (I) 814.0 nm
Green Hubble (ACS) Optical (V) 555.0 nm
Blue Hubble (WFC3) Optical (Long Pass) 350.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Orange
Green
Blue
Esahubble_potw2004a_1280
×
ID
potw2004a
Subject Category
C.5.1.1  
Subject Name
NGC 7541
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Riess et al.
Release Date
2020-01-27T06:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw2004a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
WFC3, ACS, ACS, WFC3
Color Assignment
Red, Orange, Green, Blue
Band
Infrared, Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
H, I, V, Long Pass
Central Wavelength
1600, 814, 555, 350
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
None, None, None, None
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
348.682065429, 4.53290372715
Reference Dimension
4020.0, 2933.0
Reference Pixel
2010.0, 1466.5
Scale
-1.09970213959e-05, 1.09970213959e-05
Rotation
-25.92
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
None
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
potw2004a
Metadata Date
2019-11-11T13:33:12+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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