|
Collection:
|
|
NASA Hubble Space Telescope Collection
Collection
NASA Hubble Space Telescope Collection
Collection
|
|
Title:
|
|
Firestorm of Star Birth Seen in a Local Galaxy
Title
Firestorm of Star Birth Seen in a Local Galaxy
Title
|
|
Object Name:
|
|
NGC 604
Object_Name
NGC 604
Object Name
|
|
Object Name:
|
|
M33
Object_Name
M33
Object Name
|
|
General Information:
|
|
What is Hubble Heritage?
A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site.
Back to top [ #top ]
General_Information
What is Hubble Heritage?
A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site.
Back to top [ #top ]
General Information
|
|
Acknowledgement:
|
Acknowledgement
Acknowledgement
|
|
Acknowledgement:
|
|
*Acknowledgment:* D. Garnett (U. Arizona), J. Hester (ASU), and J. Westphal (Caltech)
Acknowledgement
*Acknowledgment:* D. Garnett (U. Arizona), J. Hester (ASU), and J. Westphal (Caltech)
Acknowledgement
|
|
Fast Facts:
|
Technical facts about this news release: About the Object Object Name: NGC 604 Object Description: Star Forming Region in Spiral Galaxy M33 Position (J2000): R.A. 01h 34m 33s.80 Dec. 30° 46' 59".0 Constellation: Triangulum Distance: Approximately 2.7 million light-years (830,000 parsecs). Dimensions: This image is roughly 2 arcminutes (1,500 light-years or 500 parsecs) wide. About the Data Data Description: This image was created from HST data from HST 5237: J. Westphal (Caltech), W. Baum (U. Washington), D. Hunter (Lowell Observatory), S. Faber (U. California/Lick Observatory); HST 5773: J. Hester (ASU) and J. Westphal (Caltech); and HST 9134: D. Garnett (U. Arizona). Instrument: WFPC2 Exposure Date(s): July 1994; January 1995; December 2001 Exposure Time: 4 hours Filters: F336W ("U"), F375N ([O II]), F487N (H-beta), F502N ([O III]), F555W ("V"), F656N (H-alpha), F658N ([N II]), F673N ([S II]), F814W ("I"), F953N ([S III]) About the Image Image Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Release Date: December 4, 2003 Orientation: Firestorm of Star Birth In Galaxy NGC 604 [ http://imgsrc.hubbl…]
Fast_Facts
Technical facts about this news release: About the Object Object Name: NGC 604 Object Description: Star Forming Region in Spiral Galaxy M33 Position (J2000): R.A. 01h 34m 33s.80 Dec. 30° 46' 59".0 Constellation: Triangulum Distance: Approximately 2.7 million light-years (830,000 parsecs). Dimensions: This image is roughly 2 arcminutes (1,500 light-years or 500 parsecs) wide. About the Data Data Description: This image was created from HST data from HST 5237: J. Westphal (Caltech), W. Baum (U. Washington), D. Hunter (Lowell Observatory), S. Faber (U. California/Lick Observatory); HST 5773: J. Hester (ASU) and J. Westphal (Caltech); and HST 9134: D. Garnett (U. Arizona). Instrument: WFPC2 Exposure Date(s): July 1994; January 1995; December 2001 Exposure Time: 4 hours Filters: F336W ("U"), F375N ([O II]), F487N (H-beta), F502N ([O III]), F555W ("V"), F656N (H-alpha), F658N ([N II]), F673N ([S II]), F814W ("I"), F953N ([S III]) About the Image Image Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Release Date: December 4, 2003 Orientation: Firestorm of Star Birth In Galaxy NGC 604 [ http://imgsrc.hubbl…] Fast Facts
|
|
note:
|
|
*Image Type:*: Astronomical
note
*Image Type:*: Astronomical
note
|
|
note:
|
|
*Release Date*:December 4, 2003 09:00 AM (EST)
note
*Release Date*:December 4, 2003 09:00 AM (EST)
note
|
|
note:
|
|
*News Release Number:*: STScI-2003-30a
note
*News Release Number:*: STScI-2003-30a
note
|
|
note:
|
|
*Title*:Firestorm of Star Birth Seen in a Local Galaxy
note
*Title*:Firestorm of Star Birth Seen in a Local Galaxy
note
|
|
note:
|
|
*Description*:
This festively colorful nebula, called NGC 604, is one of the largest known seething cauldrons of star birth in a nearby galaxy. NGC 604 is similar to familiar star-birth regions in our Milky Way galaxy, such as the Orion Nebula, but it is vastly larger in extent and contains many more recently formed stars.
This monstrous star-birth region contains more than 200 brilliant blue stars within a cloud of glowing gases some 1,300 light-years across, nearly 100 times the size of the Orion Nebula. By contrast, the Orion Nebula contains just four bright central stars. The bright stars in NGC 604 are extremely young by astronomical standards, having formed a mere 3 million years ago.
Most of the brightest and hottest stars form a loose cluster located within a cavity near the center of the nebula. Stellar winds from these hot blue stars, along with supernova explosions, are responsible for carving out the hole at the center. The most massive stars in NGC 604 exceed 120 times the mass of our Sun, and their surface temperatures are as hot as 72,000 degrees Fahrenheit (40,000 Kelvin). Ultraviolet radiation floods out from these hot stars, making the surrounding nebular gas fluoresce.
NGC 604 lies in a spiral arm of the nearby galaxy M33, located about 2.7 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Triangulum. M33, a member of the Local Group of galaxies that also includes the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy, can be seen easily with binoculars. NGC 604 itself can be seen with a small telescope, and was first noted by the English astronomer William Herschel in 1784. Within our Local Group, only the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud exceeds NGC 604 in the number of young stars, even though the Tarantula Nebula is slightly smaller in size.
NGC 604 provides Hubble astronomers with a nearby example of a giant star-birth region. Such regions are small-scale versions of more distant "starburst" galaxies, which undergo an extremely high rate of star formation. Starbursts are believed to have been common in the early universe, when the star-formation rate was much higher. Supernovae exploding in these galaxies created the first chemical elements heavier than hydrogen and helium.
The image of NGC 604 was assembled from observations taken with Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 in 1994, 1995, and 2001. Color filters were used to isolate light emitted by hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur atoms in the nebula and ultraviolet, visible and infrared light from the stars within NGC 604 and the nearby spiral arms of M33. Image processors from the Hubble Heritage team at the Space Telescope Science Institute combined these various filter images to create this color picture.
note
*Description*:
This festively colorful nebula, called NGC 604, is one of the largest known seething cauldrons of star birth in a nearby galaxy. NGC 604 is similar to familiar star-birth regions in our Milky Way galaxy, such as the Orion Nebula, but it is vastly larger in extent and contains many more recently formed stars.
This monstrous star-birth region contains more than 200 brilliant blue stars within a cloud of glowing gases some 1,300 light-years across, nearly 100 times the size of the Orion Nebula. By contrast, the Orion Nebula contains just four bright central stars. The bright stars in NGC 604 are extremely young by astronomical standards, having formed a mere 3 million years ago.
Most of the brightest and hottest stars form a loose cluster located within a cavity near the center of the nebula. Stellar winds from these hot blue stars, along with supernova explosions, are responsible for carving out the hole at the center. The most massive stars in NGC 604 exceed 120 times the mass of our Sun, and their surface temperatures are as hot as 72,000 degrees Fahrenheit (40,000 Kelvin). Ultraviolet radiation floods out from these hot stars, making the surrounding nebular gas fluoresce.
NGC 604 lies in a spiral arm of the nearby galaxy M33, located about 2.7 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Triangulum. M33, a member of the Local Group of galaxies that also includes the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy, can be seen easily with binoculars. NGC 604 itself can be seen with a small telescope, and was first noted by the English astronomer William Herschel in 1784. Within our Local Group, only the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud exceeds NGC 604 in the number of young stars, even though the Tarantula Nebula is slightly smaller in size.
NGC 604 provides Hubble astronomers with a nearby example of a giant star-birth region. Such regions are small-scale versions of more distant "starburst" galaxies, which undergo an extremely high rate of star formation. Starbursts are believed to have been common in the early universe, when the star-formation rate was much higher. Supernovae exploding in these galaxies created the first chemical elements heavier than hydrogen and helium.
The image of NGC 604 was assembled from observations taken with Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 in 1994, 1995, and 2001. Color filters were used to isolate light emitted by hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur atoms in the nebula and ultraviolet, visible and infrared light from the stars within NGC 604 and the nearby spiral arms of M33. Image processors from the Hubble Heritage team at the Space Telescope Science Institute combined these various filter images to create this color picture.
note
|
|
facet_what:
|
|
Sun
facet_what
Sun
facet_what
|
|
facet_what:
|
|
Orion
facet_what
Orion
facet_what
|
|
facet_what:
|
|
Camera 2
facet_what
Camera 2
facet_what
|
|
facet_what:
|
|
Wide Field Planetary Camera 2
facet_what
Wide Field Planetary Camera 2
facet_what
|
|
facet_what:
|
|
Andromeda
facet_what
Andromeda
facet_what
|
|
facet_what:
|
|
Triangulum
facet_what
Triangulum
facet_what
|
|
facet_what:
|
|
COMPASS
facet_what
COMPASS
facet_what
|
|
facet_what:
|
|
Aura
facet_what
Aura
facet_what
|
|
facet_what:
|
|
Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
facet_what
Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
facet_what
|
|
facet_where:
|
|
Milky Way Galaxy
facet_where
Milky Way Galaxy
facet_where
|
|
facet_where:
|
|
Washington
facet_where
Washington
facet_where
|
|
facet_where:
|
|
Large Magellanic Cloud
facet_where
Large Magellanic Cloud
facet_where
|
|
facet_where:
|
|
California
facet_where
California
facet_where
|
|
facet_where:
|
|
Arizona
facet_where
Arizona
facet_where
|
|
facet_where:
|
|
M33
facet_where
M33
facet_where
|
|
facet_where:
|
|
Washington, D.C.
facet_where
Washington, D.C.
facet_where
|
|
facet_when:
|
|
1994
facet_when
1994
facet_when
|
|
facet_when:
|
|
July 1994
facet_when
July 1994
facet_when
|
|
facet_when:
|
|
January 1995
facet_when
January 1995
facet_when
|
|
facet_when:
|
|
December 2001
facet_when
December 2001
facet_when
|
|
facet_when:
|
|
December 4, 2003
facet_when
December 4, 2003
facet_when
|
|
facet_when:
|
|
1784
facet_when
1784
facet_when
|
|
facet_when_year:
|
|
1995
facet_when_year
1995
facet_when_year
|
|
facet_when_year:
|
|
1994
facet_when_year
1994
facet_when_year
|
|
facet_when_year:
|
|
2001
facet_when_year
2001
facet_when_year
|
|
facet_when_year:
|
|
2003
facet_when_year
2003
facet_when_year
|
|
facet_when_year:
|
|
1784
facet_when_year
1784
facet_when_year
|
|
UID:
|
|
SPD-HUBBLE-STScI-200 3-30a
UID
SPD-HUBBLE-STScI-200 3-30a
UID
|
|
original url:
|
original_url
original url
|
|
Release Date:
|
|
December 4, 2003 09:00 AM (EST)
Release_Date
December 4, 2003 09:00 AM (EST)
Release Date
|
