The Hyades is the nearest open star cluster to our solar system, at 150 light-years from Earth. This image is a color composite of red- and blue-filter observations from the ground-based Digitized Sky Survey. The Hubble Space Telescope's Cosmic Origins Spectrograph was used to study the spectrum of two white dwarfs that are cluster members.
Credits
NASA, STScI, the Digitized Sky Survey, and Z. Levay (STScI)| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Hyades Cluster and WD 0431+126, WD 0421+162 (inset images) |
| Object Description | White dwarfs in the Hyades Cluster |
| R.A. Position | 04h 26m 52s.80 |
| Dec. Position | 15° 52' 12.00" |
| Constellation | Taurus |
| Distance | 150 light-years (46 parsecs) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The image was created from Hubble data from proposal : B. Gaensicke (University of Warwick), D. Koester (Universitat Kiel), J. Farihi (Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge), and J. Girven (University of Warwick). |
| Instrument | DSS and HST>COS |
| Exposure Dates | February 17 and March 6, 2011, Exposure Time: 13 minutes (COS) |
| Filters | COS: G130M |
| 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. |
