Portrait of a Ghostly Galactic Peacock

Esahubble_potw2332a_1024

esahubble_potw2332a August 7th, 2023

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Tully

The lenticular galaxy NGC 6684 bathes this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in a pale light. Captured with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys, this lenticular galaxy is around 44 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Pavo. Pavo — whose name is Latin for peacock — is a constellation in the southern sky and one of four constellations collectively known as the Southern Birds. Lenticular galaxies like NGC 6684 (lenticular means lens-shaped) possess a large disc but lack the prominent spiral arms of galaxies like the Andromeda Galaxy. This leaves them somewhere between elliptical galaxies and spiral galaxies, and lends these galaxies a diffuse, ghostly experience. NGC 6684 also lacks the dark dust lanes that thread through other galaxies, adding to its spectral, insubstantial appearance. The data in this image were captured during a census of the nearby Universe entitled Every Known Nearby Galaxy which aims to observe all galaxies within 10 megaparsecs (32.6 million light-years) that the telescope has not already visited. Before this programme began Hubble had observed roughly 75% of these nearby galaxies, and completing this census will reveal insights into the stars making up a wide variety of galaxies, in a wide variety of environments. [Image Description:  A galaxy, large and occupying most of the view from the centre. The whole galaxy is made of smooth, diffuse light. The galaxy is surrounded by a smoky grey halo. Many stars shine around the galaxy, on a black background.]

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://esahubble.org/images/potw2332a/

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

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
NGC 6684
Esahubble_potw2332a_128
 

Position Details Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 18h 49m 0.2s
DEC = -65° 10’ 17.5”
Orientation
North is 45.9° CW
Field of View
3.2 x 3.3 arcminutes
Constellation
Pavo

Color Mapping Details Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue Hubble (ACS) Optical (V) 606.0 nm
Green Hubble (ACS) Optical (V) 606.0 nm
Green Hubble (ACS) Optical (I) 814.0 nm
Red Hubble (ACS) Optical (I) 814.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Blue
Green
Green
Red
Esahubble_potw2332a_1280
×
ID
potw2332a
Subject Category
Subject Name
NGC 6684
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Tully
Release Date
2023-08-07T06:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://esahubble.org/images/potw2332a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
ACS, ACS, ACS, ACS
Color Assignment
Blue, Green, Green, Red
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
V, V, I, I
Central Wavelength
606, 606, 814, 814
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
None, None, None, None
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
282.25069174949124, -65.17152912498987
Reference Dimension
3818.0, 3910.0
Reference Pixel
1909.0, 1955.0
Scale
-1.3888802959838105e-05, 1.3888802959838105e-05
Rotation
-45.900000000000034
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
potw2332a
Metadata Date
2023-07-30T14:08:59+02:00
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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