A new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image shows globular cluster NGC 1846, a spherical collection of hundreds of thousands of stars in the outer halo of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a neighboring dwarf galaxy of the Milky Way that can be seen from the southern hemisphere.
Aging bright stars in the cluster glow in intense shades of red and blue. The majority of middle-aged stars, several billions of years old, are whitish in color. A myriad of far distant background galaxies of varying shapes and structure are scattered around the image.
The most intriguing object, however, doesn't seem to belong in the cluster. It is a faint green bubble near the bottom center of the image. This so-called 'planetary nebula' is the aftermath of the death of a star. The burned-out central star can be seen inside the bubble. It is uncertain whether the planetary nebula is a member of NGC 1846, or simply lies along the line of sight to the cluster. Measurements of the motion of the cluster stars and the planetary nebula's central star suggest it might be a cluster member.
This Hubble image was taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys in January of 2006. The cluster was observed in filters that isolate blue, green, and infrared starlight. As a member of the Large Magellanic Cloud, NGC 1846 is located roughly 160,000 light-years away in the direction of the constellation Doradus.
Credits
NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA);Acknowledgment: P. Goudfrooij (STScI)
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | NGC 1846 |
| Object Description | Globular Cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud |
| R.A. Position | 05h 7m 33.93s |
| Dec. Position | -67° 27' 41.29" |
| Constellation | Dorado |
| Distance | 160,000 light-years (49,000 parsecs) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | This image was created from HST data from proposal : P. Goudfrooij (STScI), F. De Angeli (University of Cambridge), V. Kozhurina-Platais (STScI), R. Chandar (University of Toledo), T. Puzia (Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile), and T. Brown (STScI). |
| Instrument | HST>ACS |
| Exposure Dates | January 12, 2006, Exposure Time: 34 minutes |
| Filters | F435W (B), F555W (V), and F814W (I) |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | This image is a composite of many separate exposures made by the ACS instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope using three broadband filters. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic image. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: F435W (B) Green: F555W (V) Red: 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. |
