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One-color image of the disturbed galaxy Arp-Madore 135-650, also known as NGC 646. This was observed for one of the gap-filler programs. If I could make a color image, it might appear blueish up top where all the star formation is ongoing, and less blue at the bottom. This is what makes the galaxy interesting, according to a brief mention on Twitter by principle investigator Julianne Dalcanton: twitter.com/dalcantonJD/status/1038436462876741633
The puzzle is to figure out why is it all clumpy and star-formy on one side, but smooth and not so much on the other side.
I cleaned off a satellite trail and a few hundred cosmic rays.
Data from the following proposal is used to create this image:
Establishing HST's Low Redshift Archive of Interacting Systems
All channels: ACS/WFC F606W
North is NOT up. It is 43.07° counter-clockwise from up.
Preliminary Webb science shows galaxies confirmed by spectroscopy to date back to less than 400 million years after the big bang. Spectroscopy refers to breaking light into its components to create spectra, which can be thought of as “barcodes.” On a "barcode," elements and molecules have characteristic signatures we can read.
Because the universe is expanding, the light from distant galaxies is stretched — or redshifted — into longer, infrared wavelengths. We can figure out galaxies’ distances by measuring how much the signatures of elements in their spectra have shifted due to this effect.
Without spectroscopy, it can be hard to confirm how far away a galaxy is, as closer galaxies can “masquerade” as distant ones. To search for the earliest galaxies, scientists looked for a distinct feature in spectra that required Webb’s unprecedented infrared sensitivity to observe.
Finding and confirming early galaxies is a continuous process, and Webb is just getting started. Many more distant galaxies are lined up for Webb to investigate. Read more: blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/12/09/nasas-webb-reaches-new-mil...
Note: Data is from Webb science in progress, which has not yet been peer reviewed.
In this image: his image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope highlights the region of study by the Webb Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES). This area is in and around the Hubble Space Telescope’s Ultra Deep Field. Scientists used Webb’s NIRCam instrument to observe the field in nine different infrared wavelength ranges. From these images, the team searched for faint galaxies that are visible in the infrared but whose spectra abruptly cut off at a critical wavelength. They conducted additional observations (not shown here) with Webb’s NIRSpec instrument to measure each galaxy’s redshift and reveal the properties of the gas and stars in these galaxies.
In this image blue represents light at 1.15 microns (115W), green is 2.0 microns (200W), and red is 4.44 microns (444W).
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and M. Zamani (ESA/Webb).
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb). Brant Robertson (UC Santa Cruz), S. Tacchella (Cambridge), E. Curtis-Lake (UOH), S. Carniani (Scuola Normale Superiore), JADES Collaboration
Image description: A close-up of hundreds of assorted galaxies on a black background. Their colors include white, yellow, orange and blue. Some are spirals, while others appear more like blobs or streaks. There are scattered stars, some with large eight-pointed spikes.
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has captured a spectacular view of the galaxy I Zwicky 18 (I Zw 18) in this new image. The galaxy was first identified by Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky in the 1930’s and resides roughly 59 million light-years from Earth.
This galaxy has gone through several sudden bursts of star formation. This galaxy is typical of the kinds of galaxies that inhabited the early Universe and it is classified as a dwarf irregular galaxy (much smaller than our Milky Way).
Two major starburst regions are embedded in the heart of the galaxy. The wispy brown filaments surrounding the central starburst region are bubbles of gas that have been heated by stellar winds and intense ultraviolet radiation unleashed by hot, young stars. A companion galaxy resides nearby to the dwarf galaxy, which can be seen at the bottom of the wider-field image. The companion may be interacting with the dwarf galaxy and may have triggered that galaxy's recent star formation. The orange blobs surrounding the dwarf galaxy are the dim glow from ancient fully formed galaxies at much larger distances.
This image was taken as part of a Webb programme to study the life cycle of dust in I Zw 18. Scientists are now building off of previous research with Hubble obtained at optical wavelengths, studying individual dusty stars in detail with Webb’s equivalent spatial resolution and sensitivity at infrared wavelengths. This galaxy is of particular interest as its content of elements heavier than helium is one of the lowest of all known galaxies in the local Universe. Such conditions are thought to be similar to those in some of the first star-forming galaxies at high redshift, so the Webb study of I Zw 18 should shed light on the life-cycle of stars and dust in the early Universe.
Although previously believed to have only just recently begun forming its first generation of stars, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope found fainter, older red stars contained within the galaxy, suggesting its star formation started at least one billion years ago and possibly as much as 10 billion years ago. The galaxy, therefore, may have formed at the same time as most other galaxies.
The new observations from Webb have revealed the detection of a set of candidate dusty evolved stars. It also provides details about Zw 18’s two dominant star-forming regions. Webb’s new data suggest that the dominant bursts of star formation in these regions occurred at different times. The strongest starburst activity is now believed to have happened more recently in the northwest lobe as compared to the galaxy’s southeast lobe. This is based on the relative populations of younger versus older stars found in each of the lobes.
[Image Description: Many small galaxies are scattered on a black background: mainly, white, oval-shaped and red, spiral galaxies. The image is dominated by a dwarf irregular galaxy, which hosts a bright region of white and blue stars at its core that appear as two distinct lobes. This region is surrounded by brown dusty filaments.]
Credits: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, A. Hirschauer, M. Meixner et al.; CC BY 4.0
This is a Hubble Space Telescope image of the farthest spectroscopically confirmed galaxy observed to date (inset). It was identified in this Hubble image of a field of galaxies in the CANDELS survey (Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey). NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope also observed the unique galaxy. The W. M. Keck Observatory was used to obtain a spectroscopic redshift (z=7.7), extending the previous redshift record. Measurements of the stretching of light, or redshift, give the most reliable distances to other galaxies. This source is thus currently the most distant confirmed galaxy known, and it appears to also be one of the brightest and most massive sources at that time. The galaxy existed over 13 billion years ago. The near-infrared light image of the galaxy (inset) has been colored blue as suggestive of its young, and hence very blue, stars. The CANDELS field is a combination of visible-light and near-infrared exposures.
Read more: www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/astronomers-set-a-new-galaxy...
Credits: NASA, ESA, P. Oesch (Yale U.)
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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Using the unique infrared sensitivity of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, researchers can examine ancient galaxies to probe secrets of the early universe. Now, an international team of astronomers has identified bright hydrogen emission from a galaxy in an unexpectedly early time in the universe’s history. The surprise finding is challenging researchers to explain how this light could have pierced the thick fog of neutral hydrogen that filled space at that time.
The Webb telescope discovered the incredibly distant galaxy JADES-GS-z13-1, observed to exist just 330 million years after the big bang, in images taken by Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) as part of the James Webb Space Telescope Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES). Researchers used the galaxy’s brightness in different infrared filters to estimate its redshift, which measures a galaxy’s distance from Earth based on how its light has been stretched out during its journey through expanding space.
This image shows the galaxy JADES GS-z13-1 (the red dot at center), imaged with Webb's NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) as part of the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) program. These data from NIRCam allowed researchers to identify GS-z13-1 as an incredibly distant galaxy, and to put an estimate on its redshift value. Webb’s unique infrared sensitivity is necessary to observe galaxies at this extreme distance, whose light has been shifted into infrared wavelengths during its long journey across the cosmos.
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, JADES Collaboration, J. Witstok (University of Cambridge/University of Copenhagen), P. Jakobsen (University of Copenhagen), M. Zamani (ESA/Webb)
#NASAMarshall #NASA #JWST #NASAWebb #NASAGoddard #galaxy
Preliminary Webb science shows galaxies confirmed by spectroscopy to date back to less than 400 million years after the big bang. Spectroscopy refers to breaking light into its components to create spectra, which can be thought of as “barcodes.” On a "barcode," elements and molecules have characteristic signatures we can read.
Because the universe is expanding, the light from distant galaxies is stretched — or redshifted — into longer, infrared wavelengths. We can figure out galaxies’ distances by measuring how much the signatures of elements in their spectra have shifted due to this effect.
Without spectroscopy, it can be hard to confirm how far away a galaxy is, as closer galaxies can “masquerade” as distant ones. To search for the earliest galaxies, scientists looked for a distinct feature in spectra that required Webb’s unprecedented infrared sensitivity to observe.
Finding and confirming early galaxies is a continuous process, and Webb is just getting started. Many more distant galaxies are lined up for Webb to investigate. Read more: blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/12/09/nasas-webb-reaches-new-mil...
Note: Data is from Webb science in progress, which has not yet been peer reviewed.
In this graphic: Using Webb’s NIRCam instrument, scientists observed the field in nine different infrared wavelength ranges. From these images (shown at left), the team searched for faint galaxies that are visible in the infrared but whose spectra abruptly cut off at a critical wavelength known as the Lyman break. Webb’s NIRSpec instrument then yielded a precise measurement of each galaxy’s redshift (shown at right). Four of the galaxies studied are particularly special, as they were revealed to be at an unprecedentedly early epoch. These galaxies date back to less than 400 million years after the big bang, when the universe was only 2% of its current age.
In the background image blue represents light at 1.15 microns (115W), green is 2.0 microns (200W), and red is 4.44 microns (444W). In the cutout images blue is a combination of 0.9 and 1.15 microns (090W+115W), green is 1.5 and 2.0 microns (150W+200W), and red is 2.0, 2.77, and 4.44 microns (200W+277W+444W).
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb). Brant Robertson (UC Santa Cruz), S. Tacchella (Cambridge), E. Curtis-Lake (UOH), S. Carniani (Scuola Normale Superiore), JADES Collaboration
Extended image description available here: stsci-opo.org/STScI-01GKSRHS8KWW78PY0ZRGREX8N5.pdf
QSO B1422+231is a gravitationally lensed quasar at a redshift of 3.62 (light travel time 11.9 billion years. (the lensing galaxy is at a redshift of 0.647(1). QSO B1422+231 is a BL Lac object
See ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1995A%26A...298..737H/abstract and simbad.cds.unistra.fr/mobile/object.html?object_name=QSO+... for more details
Definitely the most distant object I have imaged to date
21st April 2023
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ZWO air pro
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Gain 122 at -10C
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Using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, scientists have found a record-breaking galaxy observed only 290 million years after the big bang.
Over the last two years, scientists have used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to explore what astronomers refer to as Cosmic Dawn – the period in the first few hundred million years after the big bang where the first galaxies were born. These galaxies provide vital insight into the ways in which the gas, stars, and black holes were changing when the universe was very young. In October 2023 and January 2024, an international team of astronomers used Webb to observe galaxies as part of the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) programme. Using Webb’s NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph), scientists obtained a spectrum of a record-breaking galaxy observed only two hundred and ninety million years after the big bang. This corresponds to a redshift of about 14, which is a measure of how much a galaxy’s light is stretched by the expansion of the Universe.
This infrared image from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) was captured as part of the JADES programme. The NIRCam data was used to determine which galaxies to study further with spectroscopic observations. One such galaxy, JADES-GS-z14-0 (shown in the pullout), was determined to be at a redshift of 14.32 (+0.08/-0.20), making it the current record-holder for the most distant known galaxy. This corresponds to a time less than 300 million years after the big bang.
In the background image, blue represents light at 0.9, 1.15, and 1.5 microns (filters F090W + F115W + F150W), green is 2.0 and 2.77 microns (F200W + F277W), and red is 3.56, 4.1, and 4.44 microns (F356W + F410M + F444W). The pullout image shows light at 0.9 and 1.15 microns (F090W + F115W) as blue, 1.5 and 2.0 microns (F150W + F200W) as green, and 2.77 microns (F277W) as red.
These results were captured as part of spectroscopic observations from the Guaranteed Time Observations (GTO) programme 1287, and the accompanying MIRI data as part of GTO programme 1180.
Note: This post highlights data from Webb science in progress, which has not yet been through the peer-review process.
[Image description: A field of thousands of small galaxies of various shapes and colors on the black background of space. A bright, foreground star with diffraction spikes is at lower left. Near the image center, a tiny white box outlines a region and two diagonal lines lead to a box in the upper right. Within the box is a banana-shaped blob that is blueish-red in one half and distinctly red in the other half. An arrow points to the redder portion and is labeled “JADES GS z 14 – 0”.]
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, B. Robertson (UC Santa Cruz), B. Johnson (CfA), S. Tacchella (Cambridge), P. Cargile (CfA); CC BY 4.0
Messier 74 is a face on spiral galaxy located between 30-40 million light years away in the constellation Pisces. It contains around 100 billion stars and is about 95,000 light years across making it similar in size to our own galaxy. It is the brightest member of its small local galactic group which is made up of 5-7 other galaxies, but its
low surface brightness makes it one of the hardest Messier objects for visual astronomers to observe, as well as making it a more challenging object to image. M74s face on orientation makes it a great target for professional astronomers to study how spiral arms are formed. Its two well defined arms allow it to be classed as a Grand Design Spiral Galaxy, a category only 10% of spiral galaxies fall into. Using an astronomical phenomena known as Redshift, astronomers have determined M74 is moving away from us at around 400 miles per second.
Redshift can be explained in a very very basic way if you imagine a sound wave. Sound changes in frequency as it moves closer or further away. Light is also a wave and preforms similar to this except instead of changing in pitch we perceive a change in colour. If a object moves rapidly through space towards you it will appear blue and if moving away will appear red. By measuring these slight changes in colour over time astronomers can determine how fast an object is moving. Redshift and blueshift has been used to discover exo-planets, calculate the movement and speed of galaxies, and in 1929 even led Edwin Hubble to the discovery that our universe is expanding - the first piece of the Big Bang Theory and our understanding of the origins of the universe!
Exposure Details:
58* 300 seconds, ISO 1600, calibration frames
4.8 hours total exposure
Scope: Altair Astro 115EDT
Camera: Canon 600Da
Mount: NEQ6
NGC 5364 = NGC 5317, Grand Design Spiral Galaxy in Virgo
NGC 5364, also catalogued as NGC 5317, is a "grand-design" spiral galaxy discovered by William Herschel in 1786. Its morphological classification is SA(rs)bc pec, indicating an incomplete ring structure, loosely wound spiral arms, and a peculiar asymmetry of the galactic bulge and the spiral arms which is probably due to gravitational perturbation by its neighbors. The most likely cause is the nearby lenticular galaxy NGC 5360, although some sources suggest that the more distant NGC 5363 also shows evidence of gravitational interaction. Simbad and NED extragalactic databases list for this object an unusually wide range of photometric measurements and especially of redshift-independent distance estimates. Based on the apparent magnitude of 10.53 (V) and the median independent distance of 57.38 Mly, NGC 5364 is about 113,000 ly in diameter and nearly as bright as the Milky Way. Its redshift indicates a recession velocity of 1,265 km/s. Light blue floccules in the spiral arms are OB Associations, or immense clusters of large and very hot young stars. Hubble images of the galaxy also show numerous regions of hydrogen gas partially ionized by ultraviolet radiation emanating from recently formed stars. Above average star formation rate is most likely due to gravitational perturbation by neighboring galaxies.
NGC 5364 and the nearby lenticular galaxy NGC 5363 are major members of a small galaxy group belonging to the Virgo III Galaxy Group, which is itself the E part of the large Virgo Galaxy Cluster.
www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/galgrps/viriii.html
The background is strewn with dozens of remote small galaxies approaching the limiting magnitude of ~20.5, nearly indistinguishable from faint stars, and too numerous to label. Majority lie at light travel distances (lookback time) between 250 million and 1.5 billion light years. The image also contains two hyperluminous quasars (QSOs), J135627 and J135525 at light travel distances of 10.7 and 11.8 billion light years. Their "proper recession velocities" are superluminal. In the present cosmological epoch they lie beyond the "cosmic event horizon", and any light they are now emitting can never reach us. At the present time they seem to be respectively 1 and 1.5 magnitudes brighter than their listed apparent magnitudes. Quasars commonly manifest short and long-term variability depending on the quantity of matter accreting around their central supermassive black holes. For more information, see section 25 here:
www.cloudynights.com/articles/cat/articles/basic-extragal...
Image Details:
-Remote Takahashi TOA 150 x 1105mm, Paramount GT GEM
-OSC 32 x 300 sec, 2x drizzle, 50% linear crop
-Software:
DSS, XnView, StarNet++ v2, StarTools v 1.3 and 1.8,
Extragalactic Cosmological Calculator 2
In a survey of 100,000 galaxies (called Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science, or CEERS), Webb spotted the most distant active supermassive black hole to date, plus two more small early black holes and 11 early galaxies. All of these objects existed in the first 1.1 billion years after the big bang.
Read more: www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2023/webb-detects-most-dista...
This image: Research led by Seiji Fujimoto, a team member of Webb’s Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey, led to the identification of seven galaxies that existed when the universe was only 540 to 660 million years old. Three are shown above. CEERS 24 and CEERS 23 emitted their light 13.3 billion years ago, and CEERS 3 emitted its light 13.2 billion years ago.
Credits: Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, Leah Hustak (STScI). Science: Steven Finkelstein (University of Texas at Austin), Seiji Fujimoto (University of Texas at Austin), Pablo Arrabal Haro (NOIRLab).
Image description: A graphic titled “Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey, Set of Extremely Distant Galaxies.” The graphic shows the redshift of three distant galaxies. At top right is the complete NIRCam image of the field. To its left is a pull out, which shows the locations of three galaxies, which are highlighted by tiny open white boxes. These are labeled NIRCam imaging. Three galaxies from this image are highlighted by larger open boxes and labeled: CEERS 24, 13.3 billion years; CEERS 23, 13.3 billion years; and CEERS 3, 13.2 billion years to indicate how far in the past the light was emitted. In the closeups, these galaxies appear blurry and red. Next to these images are three line graphs corresponding to the three highlighted galaxies. These are labeled NIRSpec Microshutter Array Spectroscopy. They show the shift in the position of hydrogen and oxygen emission lines to longer wavelengths as age of the light increases.
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 are not interacting, and only appear to overlap because of 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 – the dark tendrils threading through both NGC 4496A and NGC 4496B – adds to the beauty of astronomical images, but it also complicates astronomers’ observations. Dust in the universe tends to scatter and absorb blue light, making stars seem dimmer and redder in a process called “reddening.” Reddening due to dust is different from redshift, which is due to the expansion of space itself. By carefully measuring how dust in the foreground galaxy affects starlight from the background galaxy, astronomers can map the dust 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 these galaxies.
Text credit: European Space Agency (ESA)
Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, T. Boeker, B. Holwerda, Dark Energy Survey, Department of Energy, Fermilab/Dark Energy Camera (DECam), Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory/NOIRLab/National Science Foundation/Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Sloan Digital Sky Survey; Acknowledgment: R. Colombari
For more information: www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/hubble-observes-a...
The Redshift Star Fighter harnesses infrared radiation to charge a very powerful phase inverting rail gun.
Their is no escape for phase shifting enemies that appear within range.
Built for the 14x14x6 spaceship challenge.
Color added by using this ESO image under a CC BY 4.0 license. Please include ESO in the attribution if using this image, like so:
NASA/ESA/ESO/Judy Schmidt
Some processing notes: The cores of the galaxies were saturated in the ESO image, so I airbrushed over them with an approximate color. The stars were blurred/averaged and then shrunk down with a "minimum" filter so I could get just their color without the huge halo. I did some color balancing, as well. It's not ideal. It still looks pretty good, though.
Establishing HST's Low Redshift Archive of Interacting Systems
Luminosity: ACS/WFC F606W
Red: Melipal/VIMOS V (550 nm)
Green: Melipal/VIMOS B (425 nm)
Blue: Melipal/VIMOS U (380 nm)
North is 1.37° counter-clockwise from up.
3C 273 is a quasar located at the centre of a giant elliptical galaxy in the constellation of Virgo. It was the first quasar ever to be identified and is the visually brightest quasar in the sky as seen from Earth, with an apparent visual magnitude of 12.9. It is one of the closest with a redshift, z, of 0.158. which equates to 2.4 billion light-years.
It is one of the most luminous quasars known, with an absolute magnitude of −26.7, meaning that if it were only as distant as Pollux (~10 parsecs) it would appear nearly as bright in the sky as the Sun. Since the Sun's absolute magnitude is 4.83, it means that the quasar is over 4 trillion times more luminous than the Sun at visible wavelengths (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3C_273)
21st April 2023
Celestron RASA 8"
ZWO183mc pro
ZWO EAF
Optolong l-Pro
ZWO air pro
Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro
13 X120Lights Flats , Darks and Bias.
Gain 122 at -10C
Processed in Pixinsight
It turns out that my humble processing attempt of one data set from Hubble Legacy Archive had eventually spurred more research with results published just recently. The image shown above was not processed by me, but by the ESA/Hubble team.
"Back when the photo was originally released in 2020, scientists said this was one of the most complete Einstein rings ever cataloged. After the photo's publication, astronomers dug up archival data gathered by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope to calculate the galaxy's distance at 9.4 billion light-years. Further analysis allowed the team to examine stellar clumps of matter in the lensed galaxy, providing hints to its evolution.
The detection of molecular gas, of which new stars are born, allowed us to calculate the precise redshift and thus gives us confidence that we are truly looking at a very distant galaxy," Nikolaus Sulzenauer, a Ph.D. student at the Max Plank Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany and a member of the investigation team, said in a statement released by the European Space Agency, which partners with NASA on the Hubble project.
This was a time when the universe was going through a 'baby boom", forming thousands of stars at a prolific rate. The magnified image of the galaxy gives astronomers a close-up glimpse into the distant past.
The extremely high rate of star formation in the brightest and very dusty early galaxies saw stars being born at a rate a thousand times faster than occurs within our own galaxy. This could help explain the rapid build-up of present day giant elliptical galaxies"
ESA/Hubble Picture of the Week Prompts New Understanding of Einstein Ring
Scientists pinpoint age of 'molten ring' in stunning Hubble telescope image
Seen here in incredible detail, thanks to the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, is the starburst galaxy formally known as PLCK G045.1+61.1. The galaxy appears as multiple reddish dots near the center of the image and is being gravitationally lensed by a cluster of closer galaxies that are also visible in this image.
Gravitational lensing occurs when a large distribution of matter, such as a galaxy cluster, sits between Earth and a distant light source. As space is warped by massive objects, the light from the distant object bends as it travels to us. This effect was first predicted by Einstein’s general theory of relativity.
From 2009 to 2013, the European Space Agency’s Planck space observatory captured multiple all-sky surveys. In the course of these surveys, with complementary observations by the Herschel Space Observatory, Planck discovered some of the brightest gravitationally lensed high-redshift galaxies in the night sky.
It was during the study of these Planck-Herschel selected sources using Hubble that the optical starlight emitted from this ultra-bright galaxy was found.
Credit:
ESA/Hubble & NASA, B. Frye
Near NGC3079 is the twin quasar (PGC 2518326) lies at redshift z = 1.41 (8.7 billion ly). "The Twin Quasar (also known as Twin QSO, Double Quasar, SBS 0957+561, TXS 0957+561, Q0957+561 or QSO 0957+561 A/B), was discovered in 1979 and was the first identified gravitationally lensed object. It is a quasar that appears as two images, a result from gravitational lensing caused by the galaxy YGKOW G1 that is located directly between Earth and the quasar".
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Quasar
April 14th 2023
Celestron RASA 8"
ZWO183mc pro
ZWO EAF
Optolong l-Pro
ZWO air pro
Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro
24 mins Lights Flats , Darks and Bias.
Gain 122 at -10C
Processed in Pixinsight
Love how the motion blur turned out in this one, it seems to pulse back and forth, or at least it does for me.
Another collisional mess from Julianne Dalcanton's voluminous interacting galaxies program. The weird galaxies to the right are supposed to look like a Star Trek ship, but I'm not sure I see it. Definitely one of those things that goes away after more than a glance. At this point I think it looks like someone tossing a pizza dough.
Establishing HST's Low Redshift Archive of Interacting Systems
All Channels: ACS/WFC F606W
North is 1.45° clockwise from up.
This is a Hubble Space Telescope image of the farthest spectroscopically confirmed galaxy observed to date (inset). It was identified in this Hubble image of a field of galaxies in the CANDELS survey (Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey). NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope also observed the unique galaxy. The W. M. Keck Observatory was used to obtain a spectroscopic redshift (z=7.7), extending the previous redshift record. Measurements of the stretching of light, or redshift, give the most reliable distances to other galaxies. This source is thus currently the most distant confirmed galaxy known, and it appears to also be one of the brightest and most massive sources at that time. The galaxy existed over 13 billion years ago. The near-infrared light image of the galaxy (inset) has been colored blue as suggestive of its young, and hence very blue, stars. The CANDELS field is a combination of visible-light and near-infrared exposures.
Read more: www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/astronomers-set-a-new-galaxy...
Credits: NASA, ESA, P. Oesch (Yale U.)
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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This is the bike I rode and how it got rigged up before the Transcontinental Race No 8. You know my No. 22 Drifter. With it’s normal full Sram red etap AXS 2x drivetrain I just recently swapped the 10-33 red cassette for a force wide 10-36. Works like a charm w/o exchanging the normal red RD. This brings my lowest gear ratio down to 33 front and 36 back. Nifty especially for my shape of this year. Profile Design Aerobars on a handle bar mounted on a redshift sports shockstop stem form my tried and tested comfy cockpit where this year the navigation is provided by Garmin. I’ll use my usual DT Swiss Wheels with a SONdelux Dynamo hub. Initially I was going to mount Conti GP 5000 in 30 mm width but reconsidered and will go with Panaracer Gravelking Slick TLC 700 x 35c tires. That’s a nod to long and probably gnarly CP 4 parcours where we also have to cope with quite a bit of altitude difference. As well as to the #TPRNo1 where these tires were quite fit for the task.
Main bag volume will be provided by my Tailfin Aeropack in the rear. Out front I use the cyclite Handle Bar Aero Bag. I aerotested this configuration and it is really fast. Unlike the rider ;-)
On top and below the top tube I run prototype Tailfin bags.
I’ll use the kLite Bikepacker Ultra as my main light. It too, is already tested in actual bikepacking racing by me and this is a revelation in dynamo lighting. Together with my Forumslader charger it provides much needed peace of mind that whereever I go and regardless whether there will be a hotel or a bivy up ahead I’ll have light and means to power my devices.
Another interacting pair of galaxies from the prolific Proposition 15446 for your consideration.
Establishing HST's Low Redshift Archive of Interacting Systems
All Channels: ACS/WFC F606W
North is 9.12° counter-clockwise from up.
A team with all the members originating from Cardinal City. They go wherever help is needed, whether that's in Asia, Australia, or anywhere else, really. The team still has a lot to learn, but they are dedicated to helping out where they are needed. They are mostly seen in towns without local heroes, as they need help more than the major cities with heroes. They are a public team, that is trending quite often on all social media platforms.
Alias: Ophidian
Real Name: Lysander Maddox Thain
Gender: Male
Allegiance: Hero
Powers: powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Snake_Physiology
Backstory: Having the name Lysander makes it really easy to get picked on. So even though he started to call himself Zander, the bullying was prevalent throughout elementary and middle school. This is when his interest in reptiles began, more specifically snakes. He would research everything there is to know about snakes. In high school, he would get a part time job at the Cardinal City Zoo. It was also during this time when he volunteered to a Genetech experiment. Genetech infused him with the DNA of a rough green snake. The experimental procedure worked, and he now had various abilities/traits of a snake. He's able to break even the strongest metals with his bite. He can create a scale like armor, as a sort of defense mechanism, increasing the damage he can withstand. That's not even considering the enhanced strength, smell, flexibility, agility, and lung capacity. Since snakes as a species are only seen as pure evil, Lysander decided to try and change that stigma, by becoming the hero Ophidian.
Alias: Redshift (Currently), Blur (Formerly)
Real Name: Brooke Benson
Gender: Female
Allegiance: Hero
Backstory: Brooke would always be running around, being active in various sports. Despite looking quite happy, there was a deep seeded sadness within her, which she couldn't shake. Her powers didn't make things any easier. A constant need to be moving around, with her whole body vibrating constantly. It freaked her parents out various times, and would visit several specialists, but there wasn't a solution given to this problem. This problem would lead to her pushing away any guys that were interested in her romantically, as she didn't want to hurt them. It was at this time in which she would become a hero, as running seemed to stop the vibrating, at least for a short while. She would call herself Blur, as that's all she is when she's running. Since she was just a freshman in high-school at the time, she mostly avoided fights with villains, and focused on rescue operations. This eventually attracted the attention of the first Burnout, Garrett Reddick. He saw her potential, and wanted to teach her how to better use her gifts. At least that's what she thought. In reality, he wanted to find someone who he could truly mold, as his attempts with his son didn't work. He would find a way to lessen the rate at which she vibrates, and in return, she became his sidekick. This was during the time when his son Marcus was in a coma. Now being able to somewhat control her vibrations, she would have various flings with different guys, even going so far as to sleep with some of them, as she didn't see her own worth. While she was considered his sidekick, Brooke had her own ideas of what being a hero entailed, as the examples were all around them. This would lead to them fighting, even during battles with supervillains. Brooke would stop being his sidekick altogether upon graduating high school. three years later, when she couldn't take it anymore. Adopting a new name, Redshift, along with a new costume, she would become a hero in her own right. The sadness was still there though, as all of her high-school friends moved on, while she started working a minimum wage job. There were times when she considered ending it all, but being a hero pushed her through it all. A solution would come years later, though not necessarily the one she may have expected, in the form of Euphoria. It was the new drug of choice for the seedy underbelly of Cardinal City. People who wanted a way out of their sadness. Of course Brooke would take this opportunity to get some for herself. Obviously this was a conflict of interest, but she couldn't stand being sad anymore. A new hero calling himself Burnout would be seen in public for the first time, but Brooke recognized that it wasn't Garrett. After taking Euphoria, she would feel indestructible, like she could do anything. She had no fear, which led to her charging headfirst into a supervillain prison breakout by herself. This new Burnout would save her from getting herself killed, even though she tried so hard to do things by herself. He delayed her until Archon arrived, who would round up most of the escapees. After the effects of the drug wore off, Brooke thanked this new Burnout, by kissing him and running away straight after. She recalls that this Burnout is nothing like the monster Burnout she was the sidekick of. Hopefully, in time, she can find a way past her inner sadness, along with the vibrations, but for now, she's Redshift, a hero whose always on the move to save whoever she can.
Alias: Ice Wall
Real Name: Eric Beaumont
Allegiance: Hero
Powers: Minimal Cryokinesis.
Background: When Eric was younger and in school, his class went on a field trip to Sunrise City. During the trip, Eric got separated from the group, and wandered on his own. Eventually, he came across what he thought was a shield. In reality, it was a coolant system for an alien device, used in the invasion on Sunrise City years ago. Once he touched it, he started to feel different. It was as though the coolant had fused into his body. He would soon learn of his abilities. He could shoot off blasts of ice, and was able to instantaneously freeze whatever he wanted with just a thought. He developed his combat skills through years of training in different forms of martial arts. He didn't really want to fully rely on his powers when he was crime fighting, so he decided to learn how to use a shield. He decided to go back to Sunrise when the Glorbax attacked, and helped out as best he could, trying to save as many as he could. Saved the person who would later become the Sunrise hero known as Tricksta. After the invasion, he returned to Cardinal. He primarily focuses on street level crime, on gangs like the West End Warriors. Since he's grown attached to using a shield, he doesn't use his powers all too much now, mostly just for transportation sake, and in emergencies. Eric decided on his costume for the sake of easy mobility, and to have some protection when he's fighting. Also helps that everyone loves ninjas, right?! Eric doesn't like to be in the limelight as much as other heroes do, as he doesn't do it for the fame.
Alias: Bonzer
Real Name: Cameron Cross
Gender: Male
Allegiance: Hero
Backstory: Cameron Cross grew up singing around the house. At the age of 19, he was signed to a record label after they saw a video of him singing online. He then produced his first and only single, titled "No Chances". A one hit wonder. After that, he was all but forgotten. Years pass, and he realizes that he can be in the spotlight once more. After seeing all these various heroes, he decides to become a hero, as they get quite the publicity. As he fights crime, he has his song playing in the background. The suit he was able to get after years of saving money.
Alias: Rave
Real Name: Neo
Gender: Female
Allegiance: Hero
Powers: Neon (Just search up infamous second son Neon powers and that's the basic gist of it)
Backstory: Neo growing up always loved being the centre of attention. She learned early on that she had a beautiful singing voice, which she would use to gain fame. "Rave" became her online persona when she would sing covers, as well as original songs. Her videos would garner the attraction of millions, launching her into stardom. This led to her landing a record deal at one of the only record companies located in Cardinal City. Towards her fans, she is very appreciative, and kind to them, even if they are quite eccentric at times. It was because of them that she even made it this far though. She performed all around Cardinal City, using her powers to enhance the experience for everyone watching. This would go on for several years before one of the worst years of her life happened. A crazed fan would end up stalking her for a year, trying to get with her, and just tried to be around her in every minute of every day. It got creepier and creepier as time went on, before eventually she filed a restraining order against him. It was during this time, where she felt everyone kept putting her up on this pedestal, instead of being treated like a normal human being. She would hear of this new hero calling himself Bonzer, that would fight crime, while Cameron Cross' music would play in the background. Eventually she learned of Cameron Cross actually being Bonzer. They knew each other through the music industry, so she asked him for advice about the hero gig. Though with him only caring about the fame, he didn't really give all that much helpful advice. Deciding to become a hero, Neo donned the "Rave" name once more, to fight crime, while also trying to live a normal life as Neo. To this day no one knows of her true identity.
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the galaxy LRG-3-817, also known as SDSS J090122.37+181432.3. The galaxy, its image distorted by the effects of gravitational lensing, appears as a long arc to the left of the central galaxy cluster.
Gravitational lensing occurs when a large distribution of matter, such as a galaxy cluster, sits between Earth and a distant light source. As space is warped by massive objects, the light from the distant object bends as it travels to us and we see a distorted image of it. This effect was first predicted by Einstein’s general theory of relativity.
Strong gravitational lenses provide an opportunity for studying properties of distant galaxies, since Hubble can resolve details within the multiple arcs that are one of the main results of gravitational lensing. An important consequence of lensing distortion is magnification, allowing us to observe objects that would otherwise be too far away and too faint to be seen. Hubble makes use of this magnification effect to study objects beyond those normally detectable with the sensitivity of its 2.4-meter-diameter primary mirror, showing us the most distant galaxies humanity has ever encountered.
This lensed galaxy was found as part of the Sloan Bright Arcs Survey, which discovered some of the brightest gravitationally lensed high-redshift galaxies in the night sky.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, S. Allam et al.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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A big spiral galaxy interacting with a smaller, irregular-looking galaxy. This pair is sitting near the edge of some faint Milky Way dust & gas, though it is hard to see in the Hubble image. Check the Legacy Survey widefield view to see it.
A widefield color view is available here: legacysurvey.org/viewer?ra=356.7681&dec=29.4835&l...
Establishing HST's Low Redshift Archive of Interacting Systems
All Channels: ACS/WFC F606W
North is 1.99° clockwise from up.
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the galaxy LRG-3-817, also known as SDSS J090122.37+181432.3. The galaxy, its image distorted by the effects of gravitational lensing, appears as a long arc to the left of the central galaxy cluster.
Gravitational lensing occurs when a large distribution of matter, such as a galaxy cluster, sits between Earth and a distant light source. As space is warped by massive objects, the light from the distant object bends as it travels to us and we see a distorted image of it. This effect was first predicted by Einstein’s general theory of relativity.
Strong gravitational lenses provide an opportunity for studying properties of distant galaxies, since Hubble can resolve details within the multiple arcs that are one of the main results of gravitational lensing. An important consequence of lensing distortion is magnification, allowing us to observe objects that would otherwise be too far away and too faint to be seen. Hubble makes use of this magnification effect to study objects beyond the sensitivity of its 2.4-metre-diameter primary mirror, showing us the most distant galaxies humanity has ever encountered.
This lensed galaxy was found as part of the Sloan Bright Arcs Survey, which discovered some of the brightest gravitationally lensed high-redshift galaxies in the night sky.
Credit:
ESA/Hubble & NASA, S. Allam et al.
NGC4216, NGC4206, NGC4222 Galaxy Group, The Virgo Triplet
NGC4216 is a large spiral galaxy in the constellation of Virgo, morphological class SAB(s)b, intermediate between barred and unarred spirals. The Carnegie Atlas of Galaxies (1994) regards it as prototypical because it appears in many textbooks to illustrate the nucleus, bulge, disk, dust lanes, and spiral structure of major spiral galaxies. More recently it has been the subject of several studies related to galaxy mergers, stellar streams, and multi-band analysis of its gas and dust content. Along with its two large companions, NGC4206 and NGC4222, the galaxy is a peripheral member of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster. All three are rapidly moving toward us around the cluster's center of gravity. High "peculiar velocities" through space render their redshifts unsuitable for distance calculations. See Section 5, Fig. 6.
www.cloudynights.com/articles/cat/articles/basic-extragal...
In the chart on the annotated image, their derived properties (except for the redshift radial velocity) are calculated from the mean of the redshift independent distance measurements, and are enclosed in parentheses. Integrated apparent magnitudes and derived absolute magnitudes for all three galaxies are understated due to their edge-on orientation which presents a smaller luminous area to the observer, and also due to light absorption and scatter by gas and dust in the galactic plane. The three galaxies are gravitationally bound to each other and to the Virgo Cluster, but do not show evidence of significant tidal disruption.
NGC4216 has a small, very bright active galactic nucleus of the Hii LINER type which hosts an actively accreting supermassive black hole. Silchenko et al. (1999) report that high resolution spectroscopy reveals a distinct high metallicity nucleus and a circumnuclear ring of starburst activity, resulting in a star population much younger than the surrounding bulge. In most spiral galaxies the nuclear region and the bulge are composed of ancient, very low metallicity stars. It is thought that NGC4216 has a small bar which triggers new star formation by attracting and disrupting interstellar gas and dust clouds. Although some sources describe NGC4216 as a low hydrogen content "anemic galaxy", optical images clearly show numerous bright blue floccules of starburst activity in the disk. In their VLA (Very Large Array radio telescope) study of Virgo spirals, Chung et al. (2010) report moderate atomic hydrogen (Hi) flux and mass within the disk, but low Hi density on the surface. It appears the galaxy has undergone surface stripping by thermal evaporation, gravitational interaction, or "ram stripping". At inclination angle of 85*, the galaxy's disk is ideally oriented to present prominent dust lanes and pillar-like "plumes" of stars arising above the galactic plane, which appear as low-lying blue clouds on the attached photograph. The origin of the plumes is not well understood, but is presumed to be caused by interactions with the intergalactic medium within the Virgo Cluster.
NGC4216 is surrounded by a large, diffuse stellar halo containing 2-4 stellar streams (not visible on my image) and a complex system of around 700 globular clusters, nearly 5 times as many as the Milky Way. The stellar streams appear to be gravitationally deformed remnants of at least two satellite dwarf galaxies in the process of accretion. Compared to other galaxies in the Virgo Cluster, NGC 4216 appears to be undergoing a high rate of galaxy mass assembly.
iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-637X/767/2/133/pdf
On the annotated image, several faint, diffuse objects which I suspect to be dwarf candidates are marked as DC. The large number of globular clusters were probably brought in by dwarf galaxies during numerous mergers.
The field includes a number of remote faint objects described in the chart on the annotated image. Among these are three very luminous quasars which are presently receding at superluminal velocities, and lie beyond the cosmic event horizon. Two of the quasars (marked with +) appear to be significantly brighter than their listed apparent magnitudes. Since quasar luminosity depends on the rate of accretion, which can change depending on the availability of matter, quasars commonly manifest variability of up to several magnitudes over a period of days to years. See Section 25 here
www.cloudynights.com/articles/cat/articles/basic-extragal...
The most distant object is [VV2006] J121506.9+130559, lying at a light travel distance (lookback time) of 12 billion ly. In the present cosmological epoch, its proper (comoving) distance is approximately 23.3 Bly.
Image details:
-Remote Takahashi TOA 150 x 1105 mm, Paramount GT GEM
-OSC 20 x 300 sec + 25 x 300 sec taken in 2021, 2x drizzle, 50% linear crop
-Software: DSS, XnView, Starnet++ 2, StarTools 1.3 and 1.7, Cosmological Calculator 3
Compared to the last year's image, there is a mild gain in resolution, and >0.5 mag gain in the limiting magnitude.
In a survey of 100,000 galaxies (called Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science, or CEERS), Webb spotted the most distant active supermassive black hole to date, plus two more small early black holes and 11 early galaxies. All of these objects existed in the first 1.1 billion years after the big bang.
Read more: www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2023/webb-detects-most-dista...
This image: Researchers have identified the most distant active supermassive black hole to date in the James Webb Space Telescope’s Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey. The black hole, within galaxy CEERS 1019, existed just over 570 million years after the big bang and weighs only 9 million solar masses. For context, the black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy is 4.6 million times the mass of the Sun, and other very distant supermassive black holes we’ve known about for decades typically weigh more than 1 billion times the mass of the Sun.
Credits: Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, Leah Hustak (STScI). Science: Steven Finkelstein (University of Texas at Austin), Rebecca Larson (University of Texas at Austin), Pablo Arrabal Haro (NOIRLab).
Image description: A graphic titled “Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey, Black Hole Existed 570 Million Years After Big Bang.” The graphic shows the redshift (how long ago the light was emitted) of one active supermassive black hole. At top right is a very small zoomed out version of the complete galaxy field. To its left is a zoomed-in area. It shows an assortment of galaxies, but has an inset box singling out 3 red dots, 2 with a green tint. This group is labeled CEERS 1019, 13.2 billion years. It shows a black hole from 13.2 billion years ago. The bottom shows a line graph with data from Webb’s NIRSpec. It plots wavelength of light in microns on the x-axis and relative brightness of light on the y-axis. Webb data is shown as an uneven white line and fitted to 2 different models. One is a smooth purple line with a large peak, representing slower gas in the galaxy. The other is a smooth yellow line with a small peak, representing faster gas around the black hole.
Some galactic interactions result in more dramatic changes than others.
A widefield color view is available here:
legacysurvey.org/viewer?ra=334.8703&dec=29.3910&l...
Establishing HST's Low Redshift Archive of Interacting Systems
All Channels: ACS/WFC F606W
North is 17.75° counter-clockwise from up.
An interacting pair of galaxies also known as NGC 2799 (left) & NGC 2798 (right). NGC 2799 appears warped, and seems to be getting ripped apart. Rain comes to mind when looking at this, like the stars and gas of the blue galaxy are mere particles condensing and falling into the red galaxy like rain. It's probably nothing like rain, though.
Color comes from SDSS this time, which is always a pleasure. As far as surveys go, it's very easy to work with. Data for this field can be found here:
dr12.sdss.org/fields/name?name=ngc+2799
NASA/ESA/SDSS/Judy Schmidt
Establishing HST's Low Redshift Archive of Interacting Systems
Luminosity: ACS/WFC F606W
Red: SDSS i
Green: SDSS r
Blue: SDSS g
North is 13.50° clockwise from up.
Dotted across the sky in the constellation of Pictor (The Painter’s Easel) is the galaxy cluster highlighted here by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope: SPT-CL J0615-5746, or SPT0615 for short. First discovered by the South Pole Telescope less than a decade ago, SPT0615 is exceptional among the myriad clusters so far catalogued in our map of the Universe — it is the highest-redshift cluster for which a full, strong lens model is published.
More information: www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1918a/
Credit:
ESA/Hubble & NASA, I. Karachentsev et al., F. High et al.
Tidal interaction and streams between two spiral galaxies. Very interesting to see the trail of stars apparently flow from one galaxy into the other. It seems a bit ambiguous in this view, but the deep, widefield view available from the Legacy Survey makes it look plausible.
The widefield color view is available here:
legacysurvey.org/viewer?ra=254.6166&dec=58.9466&l...
Establishing HST's Low Redshift Archive of Interacting Systems
All Channels: ACS/WFC F606W
North is 0.41° clockwise from up.
“One of Webb’s most complex instrument modes is with the MIRI Medium Resolution Spectrometer (MRS). The MRS is an integral-field spectrograph, which provides spectral and spatial information simultaneously for the entire field of view. The spectrograph provides three-dimensional ‘data cubes’ in which every pixel in an image contains a unique spectrum. Such spectrographs are extremely powerful tools to study the composition and kinematics of astronomical objects, as they combine the benefits of both traditional imaging and spectroscopy.
“The MRS is designed to have a spectral resolving power (observed wavelength divided by the smallest detectable wavelength difference) of about 3,000. That is high enough to resolve key atomic and molecular features in a variety of environments. At the highest redshifts, the MRS will be able to study hydrogen emission from the first galaxies. At lower redshifts, it will probe molecular hydrocarbon features in dusty nearby galaxies and detect the bright spectral fingerprints of elements such as oxygen, argon, and neon that can tell us about the properties of ionized gas in the interstellar medium. Closer to home, the MRS will produce maps of spectral features due to water ice and simple organic molecules in giant planets in our own solar system and in planet-forming disks around other stars.
“In order to cover the wide 5 to 28 micron wavelength range as efficiently as possible, the MRS integral field units are broken up into twelve individual wavelength bands, each of which must be calibrated individually. Over the past few weeks, the MIRI team (a large international group of astronomers from the USA and Europe) has been focusing primarily on calibrating the imaging components of the MRS. They want to ensure that all twelve bands are spatially well aligned with each other and with the MIRI Imager, so that it can be used to place targets accurately into the smaller MRS field of view. We show some early test results from this alignment process, illustrating the image quality achieved in each of the twelve bands using observations of the bright K giant star HD 37122 (located in the southern sky near the Large Magellanic Cloud).
“Once the spatial alignment and image quality of the several bands are well characterized, the MIRI team will prioritize calibrating the spectroscopic response of the instrument. This step will include determining the wavelength solution and spectral resolution throughout each of the twelve fields of view using observations of compact emission-line objects and diffuse planetary nebulae ejected by dying stars. We show the exceptional spectral resolving power of the MRS with a small segment of a spectrum obtained from recent engineering observations of the active galactic nucleus at the core of Seyfert galaxy NGC 6552. Once these basic instrument characteristics are established, it will be possible to calibrate MRS so that it is ready to support the wealth of Cycle 1 science programs due to start in a few short weeks.”
Read more:
blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/06/16/webbs-mid-infrared-spectro...
This image: These are the first engineering data cubes for each of the twelve MRS spectral bands, illustrating the astrometric registration and image quality for observations of HD 37122. In each panel the dashed cyan circle shows a 1 arcsecond radius region around the expected location of the star in celestial coordinates. While the star is bright at short wavelengths it fades toward longer wavelengths, where the MRS also detects thermal emission from Webb’s primary mirror. Credit: NASA, ESA, and the MIRI Consortium.
A spiral galaxy with an extra long arm outstretched. No apparent interacting partner nearby. Perhaps the interaction was with a very small, irregular galaxy that is already difficult to distinguish from the spiral. Or maybe this galaxy is just like this? Hm.
A widefield color view is available here:
legacysurvey.org/viewer?ra=29.1780&dec=-43.9798&l...
Establishing HST's Low Redshift Archive of Interacting Systems
All Channels: ACS/WFC F606W
North is 110.15° counter-clockwise from up.
Saw this drop into the archive this morning and knew what I had to do. Two spirals interacting in some way, though I find it very difficult to interpret the image in order to place them spatially. It looks like the smaller one is fully behind, although it could be partially within the larger galaxy. I'm really not sure!
Establishing HST's Low Redshift Archive of Interacting Systems
All Channels: ACS/WFC F606W
North is 57.06° counter-clockwise from up.
A flocculent spiral galaxy with some of our own galaxy's flocculence in front of it. If you look to the lower right corner, you can see it's a bit darker and muddy-colored. That's our Milky Way's dust. It's thick enough that it seems to completely obscure some of the distant spiral in visible light. It is difficult to tell where our galaxy ends and the external galaxy begins, which almost makes it look like it's attached.
None of the regular color surveys I usually check have contained this galaxy, but color data was kindly provided by William Keel, which he gathered using the remotely-operated SARA 24-inch telescope at Cerro Tololo in Chile.
NASA/ESA/William Keel/Judy Schmidt
HST Proposal:
Establishing HST's Low Redshift Archive of Interacting Systems
Luminosity: ACS/WFC F606W
Red: r
Green: v
Blue: b
North is 8.42° clockwise from up.