DescriptionUtraviolet Light Source in an Old Galaxy (9464531619).jpg
(October 26, 1999) Hubble Space Telescope's exquisite resolution has allowed astronomers to resolve, for the first time, hot blue stars deep inside an elliptical galaxy. The swarm of nearly 8,000 blue stars resembles a blizzard of snowflakes near the core (lower right) of the neighboring galaxy M32, located 2.5 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. Hubble confirms that the ultraviolet light comes from a population of extremely hot helium-burning stars at a late stage in their lives. Unlike the Sun, which burns hydrogen into helium, these old stars exhausted their central hydrogen long ago, and now burn helium into heavier elements. The observations, taken in October 1998, were made with the camera mode of the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) in ultraviolet light. The STIS field of view is only a small portion of the entire galaxy, which is 20 times wider on the sky. For reference, the full moon is 70 times wider than the STIS field-of-view. Thirty years ago, the first ultraviolet observations of elliptical galaxies showed that they were surprisingly bright when viewed in ultraviolet light. Before those pioneering UV observations, old groups of stars were assumed to be relatively cool and thus extremely faint in the ultraviolet. Over the years since the initial discovery of this unexpected ultraviolet light, indirect evidence has accumulated that it originates in a population of old, but hot, helium-burning stars. Now Hubble provides the first direct visual evidence.
Cette image est issue de la collection The Commons du site Flickr. Les organismes y partageant leur collection déclarent qu'à leur connaissance, aucune restriction de droit d'auteur ne fait obstacle à leur diffusion, pour l'une des raisons suivantes :
l'œuvre est dans le domaine public car les droits d'auteur ont expiré ;
l'œuvre a été rattachée au domaine public pour d'autres raisons, tel que le non respect des conditions nécessaires pour renouveler des droits d'auteur ;
l'organisme est détenteur des droits d'auteur mais ne ne souhaite pas exercer son contrôle ou ;
l'organisme possède des droits suffisant pour permettre à des tiers d'utiliser ces travaux sans aucune restriction.
Merci d'ajouter des bandeaux de licence supplémentaires à cette image si des informations plus spécifiques sont disponibles à propos du statut de cette image. Consultez Commons:À propos des licences pour plus d'informations.
No known copyright restrictionsNo restrictionshttps://www.flickr.com/commons/usage/false
Cette image a été originellement postée sur Flickr par NASA on The Commons à l'adresse https://flickr.com/photos/44494372@N05/9464531619. Elle a été passée en revue le 27 septembre 2015 par le robot FlickreviewR, qui a confirmé qu'elle se trouvait sous licence No known copyright restrictions.
27 septembre 2015
Légendes
Ajoutez en une ligne la description de ce que représente ce fichier
Ce fichier contient des informations supplémentaires, probablement ajoutées par l'appareil photo numérique ou le numériseur utilisé pour le créer.
Si le fichier a été modifié depuis son état original, certains détails peuvent ne pas refléter entièrement l'image modifiée.
Largeur
1 159 px
Hauteur
1 127 px
Bits par composante
8
8
8
Composition des pixels
RVB
Titre de l’image
Hubble Space Telescope's exquisite resolution has allowed astronomers to resolve, for the first time, hot blue stars deep inside an elliptical galaxy. The swarm of nearly 8,000 blue stars resembles a blizzard of snowflakes near the core (lower right) of the neighboring galaxy M32, located 2.5 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. Hubble confirms that the ultraviolet light comes from a population of extremely hot helium-burning stars at a late stage in their lives. Unlike the Sun, which burns hydrogen into helium, these old stars exhausted their central hydrogen long ago, and now burn helium into heavier elements. The observations, taken in October 1998, were made with the camera mode of the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) in ultraviolet light. The STIS field of view is only a small portion of the entire galaxy, which is 20 times wider on the sky. For reference, the full moon is 70 times wider than the STIS field-of-view. Thirty years ago, the first ultraviolet observations of elliptical galaxies showed that they were surprisingly bright when viewed in ultraviolet light. Before those pioneering UV observations, old groups of stars were assumed to be relatively cool and thus extremely faint in the ultraviolet. Over the years since the initial discovery of this unexpected ultraviolet light, indirect evidence has accumulated that it originates in a population of old, but hot, helium-burning stars. Now Hubble provides the first direct visual evidence.
Orientation
Normale
Nombre de composantes
3
Résolution horizontale
150 pt/po
Résolution verticale
150 pt/po
Logiciel utilisé
Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)
Date de modification du fichier
26 octobre 1999 à 00:00
Auteur
NASA/ Goddard Space Flight Center - Space Telescope Science Institute