File:A wanderer dancing the dance of stars and space.jpg

From Wikiquote
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Original file(4,090 × 2,694 pixels, file size: 5.86 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

This file is from Wikimedia Commons and may be used by other projects. The description on its file description page there is shown below.

Summary

Description
English: The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope provides us this week with a spectacular image of the bright star-forming ring that surrounds the heart of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1097. In this image, the larger-scale structure of the galaxy is barely visible: its comparatively dim spiral arms, which surround its heart in a loose embrace, reach out beyond the edges of this frame.

This face-on galaxy, lying 45 million light-years away from Earth in the southern constellation of Fornax (The Furnace), is particularly attractive for astronomers. NGC 1097 is a Seyfert galaxy. Lurking at the very centre of the galaxy, a supermassive black hole 100 million times the mass of our Sun is gradually sucking in the matter around it. The area immediately around the black hole shines powerfully with radiation coming from the material falling in.

The distinctive ring around the black hole is bursting with new star formation due to an inflow of material toward the central bar of the galaxy. These star-forming regions are glowing brightly thanks to emission from clouds of ionised hydrogen. The ring is around 5000 light-years across, although the spiral arms of the galaxy extend tens of thousands of light-years beyond it.

NGC 1097 is also pretty exciting for supernova hunters. The galaxy experienced three supernovae (the violent deaths of high-mass stars) in the 11-year span between 1992 and 2003. This is definitely a galaxy worth checking on a regular basis.

However, what it is really exciting about NGC 1097 is that it is not wandering alone through space. It has two small galaxy companions, which dance “the dance of stars and the dance of space” like the gracious dancer of the famous poem The Dancer by Khalil Gibran.

The satellite galaxies are NGC 1097A, an elliptical galaxy orbiting 42 000 light-years from the centre of NGC 1097 and a small dwarf galaxy named NGC 1097B. Both galaxies are located out beyond the frames of this image and they cannot be seen. Astronomers have indications that NGC 1097 and NGC 1097A have interacted in the past.

This picture was taken with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys using visual and infrared filters.

A version of this image was submitted to the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures image processing competition by contestant Eedresha Sturdivant.
Date
Source http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1252a/
Author ESA/Hubble & NASA; Acknowledgement: E. Sturdivant

Licensing

w:en:Creative Commons
attribution
attribution
ESA/Hubble images, videos and web texts are released by the ESA under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license and may on a non-exclusive basis be reproduced without fee provided they are clearly and visibly credited. Detailed conditions are below; see the ESA copyright statement for full information. For images created by NASA or on the hubblesite.org website, or for ESA/Hubble images on the esahubble.org site before 2009, use the {{PD-Hubble}} tag.
Conditions:
  • The full image or footage credit must be presented in a clear and readable manner to all users, with the wording unaltered (for example: "ESA/Hubble"). Web texts should be credited to ESA/Hubble (except when used by media). The credit should not be hidden or disassociated from the image footage. Links should be active if the credit is online. See the usage rights Q&A section on the ESA copyright page for guidance.
  • ESA/Hubble materials may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by ESA/Hubble or any ESA/Hubble employee of a commercial product or service.
  • ESA/Hubble requests a copy of the product sent to them to be indexed in their archive.
  • If an image shows an identifiable person, using that image for commercial purposes may infringe that person's right of privacy, and separate permission should be obtained from the individual.
  • If images or visuals are changed significantly from the original work (apart from resizing, cropping), we suggest that the changes are mentioned after the credit line. For example "Original image by ESA/Hubble (M. Kornmesser), warping and recolouring by NN".

Notes:

  • Note that this general permission does not extend to the use of ESA/Hubble's logo, which shall remain protected and may not be used or reproduced without prior and individual written consent of ESA/Hubble.
  • Also note that music, scientific papers and code on the esahubble.org site are not released under this license and can not be used for non-ESA/Hubble products.
  • By reproducing ESA/Hubble material, in part or in full, the user acknowledges the terms on which such use is permitted.
w:en:Creative Commons
attribution
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
Attribution: ESA/Hubble
You are free:
  • to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work
  • to remix – to adapt the work
Under the following conditions:
  • attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

Captions

Add a one-line explanation of what this file represents

Items portrayed in this file

depicts

some value

24 December 2012

image/jpeg

fa6d5e4f987035021c1d55870131e593790a730d

6,139,612 byte

2,694 pixel

4,090 pixel

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current13:09, 26 December 2012Thumbnail for version as of 13:09, 26 December 20124,090 × 2,694 (5.86 MB)JmencisomUser created page with UploadWizard

Global file usage

Metadata