Wednesday, October 23

Hubble Lights the Way with New Multiwavelength Galaxy View

The splendid galaxy included in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is NGC 1559. It is a disallowed spiral nebula situated in the constellation Reticulum, roughly 35 million light-years from Earth. The fantastic light recorded in the existing image provides a wealth of info.

This image is made up of a tremendous 10 various Hubble images, each filtered to gather light from a particular wavelength or series of wavelengths. It covers Hubble’s level of sensitivity to light, from ultraviolet through noticeable light and into the near-infrared spectrum. Recording such a wide variety of wavelengths permits astronomers to study info about various astrophysical procedures in the galaxy: one noteworthy example is the red 656-nanometer filter utilized here. Ionized hydrogen atoms produce light at this specific wavelength, called H-alpha emission. New stars forming in a molecular cloud, made primarily of hydrogen gas, discharge massive quantities of ultraviolet light that the cloud soaks up, ionizing the hydrogen gas triggering it to radiance with H-alpha light. Utilizing Hubble’s filters to discover just H-alpha light offers a reputable method to identify locations of star development (called H II areas). These areas show up in this image as intense red and pink spots filling NGC 1559’s spiral arms.

These 10 images originated from 6 various Hubble observing programs, covering from 2009 all the method approximately 2024. Groups of astronomers from all over the world proposed these programs with a range of clinical objectives, varying from studying ionized gas and star development, to acting on a supernova, to tracking variable stars as a contribution to determining the Hubble constant. The information from all of these observations resides in the Hubble archive, offered for anybody to utilize. This archive is routinely utilized to create brand-new science, however likewise to develop incredible images like this one! This brand-new picture of NGC 1559 is a tip of the extraordinary chances that Hubble supplied and continues to supply.

Together with Hubble’s observations, astronomers are utilizing the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to continue investigating this galaxy. This Webb image from February showcases the galaxy in near- and mid-infrared light.

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