This NASA Hubble Space Telescope photo of NGC 7714 presents an especially striking view of the galaxy's smoke-ring-like structure. The golden loop is made of Sun-like stars that have been pulled deep into space, far from the galaxy's center. The galaxy is located approximately 100 million light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Pisces.
The universe is full of such galaxies that are gravitationally stretched and pulled and otherwise distorted in gravitational tug-o'-wars with bypassing galaxies.
The companion galaxy doing the "taffy pulling" in this case, NGC 7715, lies just out of the field of view in this image. A very faint bridge of stars extends to the unseen companion. The close encounter has compressed interstellar gas to trigger bursts of star formation seen in bright blue arcs extending around NGC 7714's center.
The gravitational disruption of NGC 7714 began between 100 million and 200 million years ago, at the epoch when dinosaurs ruled the Earth.
The image was taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 and the Advanced Camera for Surveys in October 2011.
Credits
NASA and ESA;Acknowledgment: A. Gal-Yam (Weizmann Institute of Science)
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | NGC 7714 |
| Object Description | Interacting Galaxy |
| R.A. Position | 23h 36m 14.1s |
| Dec. Position | 02° 9' 18.57" |
| Constellation | Pisces |
| Distance | 100 million light-years (30 megaparsecs) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | Data of NGC 7714 were obtained from the HST proposal : A. Gal-Yam and Y. Green (Weizmann Institute of Science), D. Leonard (San Diego State University), and D. Fox (Penn State University). |
| Instrument | HST>ACS/WFC and HST>WFC3/UVIS |
| Exposure Dates | October 16 - 24, 2011, Exposure Time: 1.1 hours |
| Filters | ACS/WFC: F606W (V) and F814W (I); WFC3/UVIS: F300X (U) and F390W (Washington C) |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | These images are composites of separate exposures acquired by the ACS and WFC3 instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope. Several filters were used to sample broad 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: Purple: F300X (U) Blue: F390W (Washington C) Green: F606W (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. |
