A NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of a previously unknown small group of galaxies estimated to be three billion light-years away.* They existed when the universe was only about 80% its present age. HST's high resolution reveals that many appear to be interacting and merging galaxies. In many cases, at least one member of each pair is blue in color, indicating active star formation, possibly triggered by interaction with a neighbor galaxy. The observations promise to eventually lead to a much clearer understanding of galaxy evolution. This image is part of a serendipitous sky survey which has been conducted over the past two years by Prof. Richard Griffiths and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University, with a team of astronomers in the U.S. and Britain. The survey is one of several Key Projects for Hubble. In previous images the deep survey has uncovered a bizarre variety of shape and structure in distant galaxies, which only previously appeared as fuzzy blobs from ground based telescopes. *The distance to the largest galaxy in the image has been measured by Prof. Rogier Windhorst and his group at Arizona State University, using the Multi-Mirror Telescope in Arizona, operated by the University of Arizona and the Smithsonian Institution.
Credits
Credit: Richard Griffiths, The Johns Hopkins University and NASA| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | NGC 5548 |
| R.A. Position | 14h 17m 59.65s |
| Dec. Position | 25° 8' 13.4" |
| 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. |
