Though the universe is chock full of spiral-shaped galaxies, no two look exactly the same. This face-on spiral galaxy, called NGC 3982, is striking for its rich tapestry of star birth, along with its winding arms. The arms are lined with pink star-forming regions of glowing hydrogen, newborn blue star clusters, and obscuring dust lanes that provide the raw material for future generations of stars. The bright nucleus is home to an older population of stars, which grow ever more densely packed toward the center.
NGC 3982 is located about 68 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. The galaxy spans about 30,000 light-years, one-third of the size of our Milky Way galaxy. This color image is composed of exposures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2), the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), and the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). The observations were taken between March 2000 and August 2009. The rich color range comes from the fact that the galaxy was photographed invisible and near-infrared light. Also used was a filter that isolates hydrogen emission that emanates from bright star-forming regions dotting the spiral arms.
Credits
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA);Acknowledgment: A. Riess (STScI)
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | NGC 3982 |
| Object Description | Face-on Spiral Galaxy |
| R.A. Position | 11h 56m 28.13s |
| Dec. Position | 55° 7' 30.86" |
| Constellation | Ursa Major |
| Distance | 68 million light-years (26 million parsecs) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The image was created from Hubble data from proposals and : A. Riess (STScI) et al.; : L. Ho (Carniegie Institute of Washington) et al.; and : A. Saha (NOAO/AURA) et al. |
| Instrument | HST>WFPC2, HST>ACS/WFC, and HST>WFC3 |
| Exposure Dates | March 2000 - August 2009, Exposure Time: 25.5 hours |
| Filters | F555W (V), F658N (H-alpha+[N II]), and F814W (I) |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | The image is a composite of separate exposures made by the WFPC2, ACS, and WFC3 instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope. Three 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: Blue/cyan: F555W (V) Red: F658N (H-alpha+[N II]) Red/yellow: 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. |
