In this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image, a firestorm of star birth is lighting up one end of the diminutive galaxy Kiso 5639. The dwarf galaxy is shaped like a flattened pancake, but because it is tilted edge-on, it resembles a skyrocket, with a brilliant blazing head and a long, star-studded tail.
Kiso 5639 is a member of a class of galaxies called "tadpoles" because of their bright heads and elongated tails. This galaxy resides relatively nearby, at 82 million light-years away. Tadpoles are rare in the local universe but more common in the distant cosmos, suggesting that many galaxies pass through a phase like this as they evolve.
Hubble observations of Kiso 5639 have uncovered the stellar content and bright pink glow of hydrogen at one end of the galaxy. A burst of new stars in a region measuring 2,700 light-years across makes the hydrogen clouds glow. The mass of these young stars equals about 1 million suns. The stars are grouped into large clusters that formed less than 1 million years ago.
Stars consist mainly of hydrogen and helium, but cook up other "heavier" elements, such as oxygen and carbon. When the stars die, they release their heavy elements and enrich the surrounding gas. In Kiso 5639, the bright gas in the galaxy's head is more deficient in heavy elements than the rest of the galaxy. Astronomers, therefore, think that this new star-formation event was triggered when the galaxy accreted primordial gas from its surroundings, since intergalactic space contains more pristine, hydrogen-rich gas.
The elongated tail, seen stretching away from the galaxy's head and scattered with bright blue stars, contains at least four distinct star-forming regions. These stars appear to be older than those in the star-forming head.
Hubble also revealed giant holes peppered throughout the starburst end. These cavities give this area a Swiss-cheese appearance because numerous supernova detonations – like firework aerial bursts – have carved out holes of rarified superheated gas. Wispy filaments, comprising gas and some stars, extend away from the main body of the cosmic tadpole.
The observations were taken in February 2015 and July 2015 with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3.
Credits
NASA, ESA, and D. Elmegreen (Vassar College), B. Elmegreen (IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center), J. Sánchez Almeida, C. Munoz-Tunon, and M. Filho (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias), J. Mendez-Abreu (University of St. Andrews), J. Gallagher (University of Wisconsin-Madison), M. Rafelski (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), and D. Ceverino (Center for Astronomy at Heidelberg University)| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Kiso 5639, KUG 1138+327 |
| Object Description | Galaxy |
| R.A. Position | 11h 41m 7.5s |
| Dec. Position | 32° 25' 37.33" |
| Constellation | Ursa Major |
| Distance | 80 million light-years (24.5 million parsecs) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | Data were provided by the HST proposal : B. Elmegreen (PI; IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center), D. Elmegreen (Vassar College), J. Sánchez Almeida and C. Muñoz-Tuñón (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias), J. Mendez-Abreu (University of St. Andrews), and J. Gallagher (University of Wisconsin-Madison). The science team includes: D. Elmegreen (Vassar College), B. Elmegreen (IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center), J. Sánchez Almeida, C. Muñoz-Tuñón, and M. Filho (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias), J. Mendez-Abreu (University of St. Andrews), J. Gallagher (University of Wisconsin-Madison), M. Rafelski (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), and D. Ceverino (Center for Astronomy at Heidelberg University). |
| Instrument | HST>WFC3/UVIS |
| Exposure Dates | February 16-17, 2015, and July 2, 2015 |
| Filters | F225W (U), F336W (U), F438W (B), F547M (Strömgren y), F606W (V), F675N (H-alpha), and F814W (I) |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | This image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by the WFC3/UVIS instrument. Several filters were used to sample various wavelengths. 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: Purple: F225W (U) Purple: F336W (U) Blue: F438W (B) Green: F547M (Strömgren y) Luminosity: F606W (V) Orange: F675N (H-alpha) 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. |
