NASA Telescope Spots Mystery in Fireworks Galaxy

Nustar_nustar190904a_1024

nustar_nustar190904a September 4th, 2019

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

This visible-light image of the Fireworks galaxy (NGC 6946) comes from the Digital Sky Survey and is overlaid with data from NASA's NuSTAR observatory (shown in blue and green). Blue light indicates X-rays captured during the first of two observations by NuSTAR, in May 2017. Green light indicates X-rays seen less than two weeks later in the second observation. This means that the source of the green spot to the lower left of the galactic center began radiating in the time between those two observations. Two bright sources near the top of the image show a combination of blue and green, indicating those sources were visible during both observations. The X-ray data don't have the same spatial resolution as the visible-light image, so the X-ray sources appear larger.

Provider: Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array

Image Source: https://nustar.caltech.edu/image/115

Curator: NuSTAR: Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, Pasadena, CA

Image Use Policy: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/imagepolicy/

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Fireworks Galaxy NGC 6946 Arp 29
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Spiral

Distance

Universescale2
25,000,000 light years
Nustar_nustar190904a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 20h 34m 52.3s
DEC = 60° 9’ 14.1”
Orientation
North is up
Field of View
17.7 x 17.7 arcminutes
Constellation
Cygnus

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Cyan NuSTAR X-ray -
Green NuSTAR X-ray -
Nustar_nustar190904a_1280
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ID
nustar190904a
Subject Category
C.5.1.1  
Subject Name
Fireworks Galaxy, NGC 6946, Arp 29
Credits
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Release Date
2019-09-04
Lightyears
25,000,000
Redshift
25,000,000
Reference Url
https://nustar.caltech.edu/image/115
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
NuSTAR, NuSTAR
Instrument
Color Assignment
Cyan, Green
Band
X-ray, X-ray
Bandpass
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
2000.0
Reference Value
308.71801000000, 60.15391000000
Reference Dimension
3488.00, 3485.00
Reference Pixel
1746.70728194624, 1743.75296890090
Scale
-0.00008458627, 0.00008458627
Rotation
-0.00945628932
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
World Coordinate System resolved using PinpointWCS 0.9.2 revision 218+ by the Chandra X-ray Center
Creator (Curator)
NuSTAR: Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array
URL
http://www.nustar.caltech.edu
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
City
Pasadena
State/Province
CA
Postal Code
Country
Rights
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/imagepolicy/
Publisher
Publisher ID
nustar
Resource ID
Metadata Date
2019-09-04T19:19:49Z
Metadata Version
1.2
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×
Universescalefull
25,000,000 light years

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