File:NGC4496 Potw2209a.jpg
Size of this preview: 595 × 600 pixels. Other resolutions: 238 × 240 pixels | 476 × 480 pixels | 762 × 768 pixels | 1,015 × 1,024 pixels | 2,031 × 2,048 pixels | 3,944 × 3,977 pixels.
Original file (3,944 × 3,977 pixels, file size: 4.71 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)
 | This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons. Information from its description page there is shown below. Commons is a freely licensed media file repository. You can help. |
Summary
| Description |
English: The twin galaxies NGC 4496A and NGC 4496B dominate the frame in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Both galaxies lie in the constellation Virgo, but despite appearing side-by-side in this image they are at vastly different distances from both Earth and one another. NGC 4496A is 47 million light-years from Earth while NGC 4496B is 212 million light-years away. The enormous distances between the two galaxies mean that the two cannot interact, and they only appear to overlap owing to a chance alignment. Chance galactic alignments such as this provide astronomers with the opportunity to delve into the distribution of dust in these galaxies. Galactic dust adds to the beauty of astronomical images — it can be seen in this image as the dark tendrils threading through both NGC 4496A and NGC 4496B —but it also complicates astronomers’ observations. Dust absorbs starlight, making stars seem dimmer and shifting their light towards longer wavelengths, a process that astronomers refer to as “reddening” (not the same thing as redshift). By carefully measuring how starlight from background galaxies is affected by dust in intervening galaxies, astronomers can map out where the dust is in the foreground galaxy’s spiral arms. The resulting “dust maps” help astronomers calibrate measurements of everything from cosmological distances to the types of stars populating galaxies.
Coordinates Position (RA): 12 31 39.34 Position (Dec): 3° 55' 41.10" Field of view: 2.61 x 2.63 arcminutes Orientation: North is 3.8° left of vertical Colours & filters Band Wavelength Telescope Optical u 354 nm SDSS Optical G 474 nm Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope DECam Optical G 477 nm SDSS Optical R 623 nm SDSS Optical R 644 nm Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope DECam Optical I 762 nm SDSS Optical Z 913 nm SDSS Optical Z 919 nm Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope DECam Optical V 606 nm Hubble Space Telescope WFC3. |
|||
| Date | ||||
| Source | https://esahubble.org/images/potw2209a/ | |||
| Author | ESA/Hubble & NASA, T. Boeker, B. Holwerda, Dark Energy Survey, DOE, FNAL/DECam, CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA, SDSS | |||
| Permission (Reusing this file) |
  This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Attribution: Credit:
ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Dalcanton, Dark Energy Survey/DOE/FNAL/DECam/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
|
.jpg)
Licensing
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
- You are free:
- to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work
- to remix – to adapt the work
- Under the following conditions:
- attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- share alike – If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same or compatible license as the original.
File history
Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.
| Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| current | 10:01, 21 January 2023 | | 3,944 × 3,977 (4.71 MB) | Loopjaw | Uploaded a work by ESA/Hubble & NASA, T. Boeker, B. Holwerda, Dark Energy Survey, DOE, FNAL/DECam, CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA, SDSS from https://esahubble.org/images/potw2209a/ with UploadWizard |
File usage
The following page uses this file:
Global file usage
The following other wikis use this file:
- Usage on de.wikipedia.org
