Hunting for Dead Stars
This image depicts a swirling spiral galaxy named NGC 2906.
The blue speckles seen scattered across this galaxy are massive young stars, which emit hot, blue-tinged radiation as they burn through their fuel at an immense rate. The swathes of orange are a mix of older stars that have swollen and cooled, and low-mass stars that were never especially hot to begin with. Owing to their lower temperatures, these stars emit a cooler, reddish, radiation.
This image of NGC 2906 was captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3, an instrument installed on Hubble in 2009 during the telescope’s fourth servicing mission. Hubble observed this galaxy on the hunt for fading light from recent, nearby occurrences of objects known as supernovae.
Credit:ESA/Hubble & NASA, A Filippenko
About the Image
Id: | potw2015a |
Type: | Observation |
Release date: | 13 April 2020, 06:00 |
Related science announcements: | sci20004 |
Size: | 2887 x 1876 px |
About the Object
Image Formats
Wallpapers
Coordinates
Position (RA): | 9 32 6.24 |
Position (Dec): | 8° 26' 32.45" |
Field of view: | 1.91 x 1.24 arcminutes |
Orientation: | North is 156.2° right of vertical |
Colours & filters
Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
---|---|---|
Optical V | 606 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |
Optical I | 814 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |