Galaxy field of low-surface-brightness galaxy CDG-2

Esahubble_heic2605a_1024

esahubble_heic2605a February 18th, 2026

Credit: NASA, ESA, D. Li (Utoronto), Image Processing: J. DePasquale (STScI)

The low-surface-brightness galaxy CDG-2, shown in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, is dominated by dark matter and contains only a sparse scattering of stars. This galaxy is nearly invisible, but by using advanced statistical techniques, scientists identified it by searching for tight groupings of stars called globular clusters at the centre of this image. The Hubble observations include those from programme 15235 (W. Harris). [Image description: A field of space with a dozen white foreground stars and a number of small, yellow background galaxies.]

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://esahubble.org/images/heic2605a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Baltimore, MD, United States

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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Image Details Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Esahubble_heic2605a_128
 

Position Details Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 3h 17m 12.6s
DEC = 41° 20’ 56.8”
Orientation
North is 231.0° CCW
Field of View
3.1 x 2.2 arcminutes
Constellation
Perseus

Color Mapping Details Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Cyan Hubble (ACS) Optical (g) 475.0 nm
Orange Hubble (ACS) Optical (I) 814.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Cyan
Orange
Esahubble_heic2605a_1280
×
ID
heic2605a
Subject Category
Subject Name
Credits
NASA, ESA, D. Li (Utoronto), Image Processing: J. DePasquale (STScI)
Release Date
2026-02-18T16:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://esahubble.org/images/heic2605a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
ACS, ACS
Color Assignment
Cyan, Orange
Band
Optical, Optical
Bandpass
g, I
Central Wavelength
475, 814
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
None, None
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
49.30259081181922, 41.34910093817381
Reference Dimension
1886.0, 1330.0
Reference Pixel
943.0, 665.0
Scale
-2.7785989977854368e-05, 2.7785989977854368e-05
Rotation
231.04000000000002
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
ESA/Hubble
URL
https://esahubble.org
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
ESA Office, Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Dr
City
Baltimore
State/Province
MD
Postal Code
21218
Country
United States
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
heic2605a
Resource URL
http://esahubble.org/media/archives/images/original/heic2605a.tif
Related Resources
Metadata Date
2026-02-16T14:34:55.883358
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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NASA’s Universe of Learning materials are based upon work supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number NNX16AC65A to the Space Telescope Science Institute, working in partnership with Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The award is part of NASA’s Science Activation program, which strives to further enable NASA science experts and content into the learning environment more effectively and efficiently with learners of all ages.