This is a full-field image of the nearby dwarf galaxy NGC 4214 taken with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Episodes of star formation are revealed as the galaxy continues to form clusters of new stars from its interstellar gas and dust. The Hubble image reveals a sequence of steps in the formation and evolution of stars and star clusters, evident in the glowing gas surrounding bright stellar clusters.
The young clusters of new stars appear within bright clumps of glowing gas. Each cloud glows because of the strong ultraviolet light emitted from the embedded young stars, which have formed within them due to the gravitational collapse of the gas. These hot stars also eject fast "stellar winds" moving at millions of miles per hour (thousands of kilometers per second), which plow into the surrounding gas. The radiation and wind from the young stars literally blow bubbles in the gas.
The main object near the center of the galaxy is a cluster of hundreds of massive blue stars, each more than 10,000 times brighter than our Sun. A vast heart-shaped bubble, inflated by the combined stellar winds and radiation pressure, surrounds the cluster. The bubble will increase in size as the most massive stars in the center reach the ends of their lives and explode as supernovae.
NGC 4214 provides a unique view of star formation in galaxies other than the Milky Way because of its proximity to us. Filters onboard Hubble also help to tell the story of star formation in this galaxy. Broadband filters expose light from older star populations and show the overall structure of the galaxy. NGC 4214 is not only small in size compared to the Milky Way, it also appears irregular in shape, with no defined disk or spiral arms. Ultraviolet filters show the intense stars that radiate ultraviolet light in the centers of the colorful nebulosity, which is in turn visible because of narrow-band filters that isolate specific gases such as hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen.
This dwarf galaxy resides 10 million light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici. The Hubble images were obtained in December 2009 with the Wide Field Camera 3 in ultraviolet and visible filters.
Credits
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration;Acknowledgment: R. O'Connell (University of Virginia) and the WFC3 Scientific Oversight Committee
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | NGC 4214 |
| Object Description | Dwarf Galaxy with Bright Star-Forming Regions |
| R.A. Position | 12h 15m 39.16s |
| Dec. Position | 36° 19' 36.8" |
| Constellation | Canes Venatici |
| Distance | The distance to NGC 4214 is 10 million light-years (3.1 Mpc). |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The image was created from Hubble data from proposal : R. O'Connell (University of Virginia), B. Balick (University of Washington), H. Bond (STScI), D. Calzetti (University of Massachusetts), M. Carollo (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich), M. Disney (University of Wales, College of Cardiff), M. Dopita (Australian National University), J. Frogel (Ohio State University Research Foundation), D. Hall (University of Hawaii), J. Holtzman (New Mexico State University), P. McCarthy (Carnegie Institution of Washington), F. Paresce (European Southern Observatory, Germany), A. Saha (NOAO/AURA), J. Silk (University of Oxford), A. Walker (NOAO/CTIO), B. Whitmore (STScI), R. Windhorst (Arizona State University), and E. Young (University of Arizona). The science team comprises: R. O'Connell (University of Virginia), M. Dopita (Australian National University), C. Kaleida (Arizona State University), and B. Whitmore (STScI). |
| Instrument | HST>WFC3/UVIS |
| Exposure Dates | December 22-25, 2009, Exposure Time: 3.6 hours |
| Filters | F225W (UV), F336W (U), F438W (B), F487N (H-beta), F502N ([O III]), F547M (y), F657N (H-alpha+[N II]), and F814W (I) |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | This image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by the WFC3 instrument on HST. Several filters were used to sample broad and narrow wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: F225W (UV) + F336W (U) + F438W (B) + F487N (H-beta) Green: F502N ([O III]) + F547M (y), Red: F657N (H-alpha+[N II]) + 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. |
