A long-exposure Hubble Space Telescope image shows a majestic face-on spiral galaxy located deep within the Coma Cluster of galaxies, which lies 320 million light-years away in the northern constellation Coma Berenices.
The galaxy, known as NGC 4911, contains rich lanes of dust and gas near its center. These are silhouetted against glowing newborn star clusters and iridescent pink clouds of hydrogen, the existence of which indicates ongoing star formation. Hubble has also captured the outer spiral arms of NGC 4911, along with thousands of other galaxies of varying sizes. The high resolution of Hubble's cameras, paired with considerably long exposures, made it possible to observe these faint details.
NGC 4911 and other spirals near the center of the cluster are being transformed by the gravitational tug of their neighbors. In the case of NGC 4911, wispy arcs of the galaxy's outer spiral arms are being pulled and distorted by forces from a companion galaxy (NGC 4911A), to the upper right. The resultant stripped material will eventually be dispersed throughout the core of the Coma Cluster, where it will fuel the intergalactic populations of stars and star clusters.
The Coma Cluster is home to almost 1,000 galaxies, making it one of the densest collections of galaxies in the nearby universe. It continues to transform galaxies at the present epoch, due to the interactions of close-proximity galaxy systems within the dense cluster. Vigorous star formation is triggered in such collisions.
Galaxies in this cluster are so densely packed that they undergo frequent interactions and collisions. When galaxies of nearly equal masses merge, they form elliptical galaxies. Merging is more likely to occur in the center of the cluster where the density of galaxies is higher, giving rise to more elliptical galaxies.
This natural-color Hubble image, which combines data obtained in 2006, 2007, and 2009 from the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 and the Advanced Camera for Surveys, required 28 hours of exposure time.
Credits
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA);Acknowledgment: K. Cook (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | NGC 4911 |
| Object Description | Spiral Galaxy |
| R.A. Position | 13h 0m 56.05s |
| Dec. Position | 27° 47' 27.12" |
| Constellation | Coma Berenices |
| Distance | 320 million light-years (100 million parsecs) |
| Dimensions | The image is roughly 2.5 arcminutes (230,000 light-years or 72,000 parsecs) wide. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The image was created from Hubble data from proposals : K. Cook (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), M. Gregg (University of California, Davis), L. Macri (National Optical Astronomy Observatories, AURA), J. Mould (University of Melbourne), P. Stetson (Dominion Astrophysical Observatory), and D. Welch (McMaster University); and 11956: K. Noll, Z. Levay, L. Frattare, C. Christian, F. Hamilton, and H. Bond (Hubble Heritage Team/STScI). |
| Instrument | HST>ACS/WFC and HST>WFPC2 |
| Exposure Dates | December 2006 – January 2007 and January 2009 – February 2009, Exposure Time: 28 hours |
| Filters | F450W (B), F606W (V), F673N (redshifted H-alpha), and F814W (I) |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | The image is a composite of separate exposures made by the ACS and WFPC2 instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope. Four filters were used to sample broad and narrow wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic image. In this case, the assigned colors are: F450W (B) F606W (V) F673N (redshifted H-alpha) + F814W (I) |
| Compass Image |  |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
