These images are composites from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The boxed and pullout images show two of the six, distant, massive galaxies where scientists found star formation has ceased due to the depletion of a fuel source—cold hydrogen gas.
Hubble, together with ALMA, found these odd galaxies when they combined forces with the "natural lens" in space created by foreground massive galaxy clusters. The clusters' gravity stretches and amplifies the light of the background galaxies in an effect called gravitational lensing. This phenomenon allows astronomers to use massive galaxy clusters as natural magnifying glasses to study details in the distant galaxies that would otherwise be impossible to see.
The yellow traces the glow of starlight. The artificial purple color traces cold dust from ALMA observations. This cold dust is used as a proxy for the cold hydrogen gas needed for star formation.
Even with ALMA's sensitivity, scientists do not detect dust in most of the six galaxies sampled. One example is MRG-M1341, at upper right. It looks distorted by the "funhouse mirror" optical effects of lensing. In contrast, the purple blob to the left of the galaxy is an example of a dust-and-gas-rich galaxy.
One example of the detection of cold dust ALMA did make is galaxy MRG-M2129 at bottom right. The galaxy only has dust and gas in the very center. This suggests that star formation may have shut down from the outskirts inward.
Credits
Lead Author
NASA, ESA, Katherine E. Whitaker (UMass)
Image Processing
Joseph DePasquale (STScI)
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | MACS J1341 and MACS J2129 |
| Object Description | Lensing galaxy clusters |
| Distance | M1341 z=1.5943 (9.63 billion light-years); M2129 z=2.1478 (10.63 billion light-years) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The Hubble images were created from HST data from proposals (M. Postman) and (M.Akhshik) |
| Instrument | WFC3/UVIS and WFC3/IR |
| Exposure Dates | May - Aug 2011 and Feb - Mar 2020 |
| Filters | F814W, F125W, F160W |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | These images are a composite of separate exposures obtained by the WFC3 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. Several filters were used to sample narrow 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: Blue: F814W Green: F125W Red: F160W |
| 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. |
Download
- Full Res, 3408 X 3425, TIF (20.47 MB)
- Full Res, 3408 X 3425, PNG (15.54 MB)
- 1990 X 2000, PNG (5.64 MB)
- 995 X 1000, PNG (1.52 MB)
- Unannotated Full Res, 3408 X 3425, TIF (20.63 MB)
- Unannotated Full Res, 3408 X 3425, PNG (15.41 MB)
- Unannotated, 1990 X 2000, PNG (5.59 MB)
- Unannotated, 995 X 1000, PNG (1.51 MB)
- MACS J1341, 1750 X 1750, TIF (7.59 MB)
- MACS J1341, 1750 X 1750, PNG (5.43 MB)
- MACS J2129, 1995 X 1995, TIF (8.57 MB)
- MACS J2129, 1995 X 1995, PNG (6.27 MB)
