This composite image shows examples of galaxies similar to our Milky Way at various stages of construction over a time span of 11 billion years.
The galaxies are arranged according to time. Those on the left reside nearby; those at far right existed when the cosmos was about 2 billion years old. The bluish glow from young stars dominates the color of the galaxies on the right. The galaxies at left are redder from the glow of older stellar populations.
Astronomers found the distant galaxies in two Hubble Space Telescope surveys: 3D-HST and the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey, or CANDELS. The observations were made in visible and near-infrared light by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys. The nearby galaxies were taken from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
This image traces Milky Way-like galaxies over most of cosmic history, revealing how they evolve over time. Hubble's sharp vision resolved the galaxies' shapes, showing that their bulges and disks grew simultaneously.
Credits
NASA, ESA, P. van Dokkum (Yale University), S. Patel (Leiden University), and the 3D-HST Team| About The Data | |
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| Data Description | This release is based on Hubble data from proposals and : P. van Dokkum (Yale University), C. Steidel (Caltech), H.-W. Rix (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy), M. Kriek (University of California, Berkeley), G. Kauffmann (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy), G. Brammer (European Southern Observatory), D. Erb (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee), M. Franx (Leiden University), N. Schreiber (Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics), X. Fan (University of Arizona), R. Quadri, I. Labbe, and P. McCarthy (Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington), D. Marchesini (Tufts University), A. Pasquali (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy), G. Illingworth (University of California, Santa Cruz), K. Whitaker (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), J. Hennawi (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy), D. Wake (Yale University), and S. Patel (Leiden University). The science teams comprise the following: Patel et al. Paper: S. Patel, M. Fumagalli, and M. Franx (Leiden University), P. van Dokkum (Yale University), A. van der Wel (Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics.), J. Leja (Yale University), I. Labbe (Leiden University), G. Brammer (European Southern Observatory), R. Skelton and I. Momcheva (Yale University), K. Whitaker (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), B. Lundgren (University of Wisconsin, Madison), A. Muzzin (Leiden University), R. Quadri (Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington), E. Nelson (Yale University), D. Wake (University of Wisconsin, Madison), and H.-W. Rix (Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics). van Dokkum et al. Paper: P. van Dokkum, J. Leja, and E. Nelson (Yale University), S. Patel (Leiden University), R. Skelton and I. Momcheva (Yale University), G. Brammer (European Southern Observatory), K. Whitaker (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), B. Lundgren (University of Wisconsin, Madison), M. Fumagalli (Leiden University), C. Conroy (University of California, Santa Cruz), N. Schreiber (Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics), M. Fumagalli (Leiden University), M. Kriek (University of California, Berkeley), I. Labbe (Leiden University), D. Marchesini (Tufts University), H.-W. Rix and A. van der Wel (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy), and S. Wuyts (Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics). |
| About The Object | |
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| 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 |
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| 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. |
