|
Collection:
|
|
NASA Spitzer Space Telescope Collection
|
|
Title:
|
|
Eyes in the Sky
|
|
Description:
|
|
These shape-shifting galaxies have taken on the form of a giant mask. The icy blue eyes are actually the cores of two merging galaxies, called NGC 2207 and IC 2163, and the mask is their spiral arms. The false-colored image consists of infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (red) and visible data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (blue/green). NGC 2207 and IC 2163 met and began a sort of gravitational tango about 40 million years ago. The two galaxies are tugging at each other, stimulating new stars to form. Eventually, this cosmic ball will come to an end, when the galaxies meld into one. The dancing duo is located 140 million light-years away in the Canis Major constellation. The infrared data from Spitzer highlight the galaxies' dusty regions, while the visible data from Hubble indicates starlight. In the Hubble-only image (not pictured here), the dusty regions appear as dark lanes. The Hubble data correspond to light with wavelengths of .44 and .55 microns (blue and green, respectively). The Spitzer data represent light of 8 microns.
|
|
Release Date:
|
|
2006/04/26
|
|
Press Release:
|
|
Galaxies Don Mask of Stars in New Spitzer Image [ http://www.spitzer.…]
|
|
Release Credit:
|
|
NASA, ESA/JPL-Caltech/STSc I/D. Elmegreen (Vassar)
|
|
Image Credit:
|
|
NASA, ESA/JPL-Caltech/STSc I/D. Elmegreen (Vassar)
|
|
Object name:
|
|
NGC2207
|
|
Object name:
|
|
IC2163
|
|
Object type:
|
|
galaxy, galaxies
|
|
Position (J2000):
|
|
*RA: *06h16m25.00s *Dec: *-21d22m26.30s
|
|
Distance:
|
|
140 million light-years
|
|
Constellation:
|
|
Canis Major
|
|
Wavelength:
|
|
5.8?8.0 microns (red)
|
|
Wavelength:
|
|
0.44 microns (blue); 0.55 microns (green)
|
|
Image scale:
|
|
4.8 x 2.5 arcmin
|
|
Observers:
|
|
Debra Elmegreen (Vassar College) Bruce Elmegreen (T.J. Watson Research Center) Michele Kaufman (Ohio State University) Kartik Sheth (Spitzer Science Center) Curtis Struck (Iowa State University) Magnus Thomasson (Onsala Space Observatory) Elias Brinks (University of Hertfordshire)
|
|
Instrument:
|
|
IRAC
|
|
Instrument:
|
|
Hubble Space Telescope
|
|
Orientation:
|
|
N is 167 deg CCW from up
|
|
facet_what:
|
|
Spitzer Space Telescope
|
|
facet_what:
|
|
Canis Major
|
|
facet_what:
|
|
Infrared Array Camera (IRAC)
|
|
facet_what:
|
|
Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
|
|
facet_where:
|
|
Iowa
|
|
facet_where:
|
|
NGC 2207 and IC 2163
|
|
facet_where:
|
|
Ohio
|
|
facet_where:
|
|
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
|
|
facet_where:
|
|
Washington, D.C.
|
|
Image #:
|
|
ssc2006-11b
|
|
original url:
|
|
http://sscws1.ipac.…
|
|
UID:
|
|
SPD-SPITZ-ssc2006-11 b
|
|
Image ID:
|
|
168832
|
|
Resolution Size:
|
|
5
|
|
Format:
|
|
JP2
|
|
Media Type:
|
|
Image
|
|
File Name:
|
|
ssc2006-11b_mac.jp2
|
|
Width:
|
|
3000
|
|
Height:
|
|
1800
|
