Hubble image archive
Face-on Spiral Galaxy NGC 3982
Though the universe is chock full of spiral-shaped galaxies, no two look exactly the same. This face-on spiral galaxy, called NGC 3982, is striking for its rich tapestry of star birth, along with its winding arms. The arms are lined with pink star-forming regions of glowing hydro...
- Date
- Jan 1, 2010
- Mission
- Hubble Space Telescope
- Archive ID
- hubblesite-images-2010-36-2795-image
Though the universe is chock full of spiral-shaped galaxies, no two look exactly the same. This face-on spiral galaxy, called NGC 3982, is striking for its rich tapestry of star birth, along with its winding arms. The arms are lined with pink star-forming regions of glowing hydrogen, newborn blue star clusters, and obscuring dust lanes that provide the raw material for future generations of stars. The bright nucleus is home to an older population of stars, which grow ever more densely packed toward the center.
NGC 3982 is located about 68 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. The galaxy spans about 30,000 light-years, one-third of the size of our Milky Way galaxy. This color image is composed of exposures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2), the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), and the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). The observations were taken between March 2000 and August 2009. The rich color range comes from the fact that the galaxy was photographed invisible and near-infrared light. Also used was a filter that isolates hydrogen emission that emanates from bright star-forming regions dotting the spiral arms.
Credits
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA);Acknowledgment: A. Riess (STScI)
Image Details
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | NGC 3982 |
| Object Description | Face-on Spiral Galaxy |
| R.A. Position | 11h 56m 28.13s |
| Dec. Position | 55° 7' 30.86" |
| Constellation | Ursa Major |
| Distance | 68 million light-years (26 million parsecs) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The image was created from Hubble data from proposals and : A. Riess (STScI) et al.; : L. Ho (Carniegie Institute of Washington) et al.; and : A. Saha (NOAO/AURA) et al. |
| Instrument | HST>WFPC2, HST>ACS/WFC, and HST>WFC3 |
| Exposure Dates | March 2000 - August 2009, Exposure Time: 25.5 hours |
| Filters | F555W (V), F658N (H-alpha+[N II]), and F814W (I) |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | The image is a composite of separate exposures made by the WFPC2, ACS, and WFC3 instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope. Three filters were used to sample broad and narrow wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic image. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue/cyan: F555W (V) Red: F658N (H-alpha+[N II]) Red/yellow: F814W (I) |
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Source
Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.
View on NASA.gov