Giant space blob glows from within

Eso_eso1130a_1024

eso_eso1130a August 17th, 2011

Credit: ESO/M. Hayes 

This image shows one of the largest known single objects in the Universe, the Lyman-alpha blob LAB-1. This picture is a composite of two different images taken with the FORS instrument on the Very Large Telescope (VLT)  — a wider image showing the surrounding galaxies and a much deeper observation of the blob itself at the centre made to detect its polarisation. The intense Lyman-alpha ultraviolet radiation from the blob appears green after it has been stretched by the expansion of the Universe during its long journey to Earth. These new observations show for the first time that the light from this object is polarised. This means that the giant "blob" must be powered by galaxies embedded within the cloud. 

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1130a/

Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
LAB-1
Subject - Distant Universe
Cosmology > Morphology > Large-Scale Structure
Eso_eso1130a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 22h 17m 25.8s
DEC = 0° 12’ 39.2”
Orientation
North is 9.9° CW
Field of View
1.6 x 1.6 arcminutes
Constellation
Aquarius

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Green VLT (FORS2) Optical (OIII) -
Red VLT (FORS2) Optical (V) -
Green VLT (FORS2) Optical (Pseudogreen (B+R)) -
Blue VLT (FORS2) Optical (B) -
Eso_eso1130a_1280
×
ID
eso1130a
Subject Category
D.6.1.2  
Subject Name
LAB-1
Credits
ESO/M. Hayes 
Release Date
2011-08-17T19:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1130a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope
Instrument
FORS2, FORS2, FORS2, FORS2
Color Assignment
Green, Red, Green, Blue
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
OIII, V, Pseudogreen (B+R), B
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
334.357409867, 0.210887517645
Reference Dimension
2042.0, 2042.0
Reference Pixel
1021.0, 1021.0
Scale
-1.30349648838e-05, 1.30349648838e-05
Rotation
-9.8599999999999977
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
European Southern Observatory
URL
http://www.eso.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
European Southern Observatory
Publisher ID
eso
Resource ID
eso1130a
Metadata Date
2011-08-12T14:57:32+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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