Media Information

 
 
 
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

Eyes in the Sky