Ring around NGC 4650A
Space Telescope Science Institute astronomers are giving the public chances to decide where to aim the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Guided by 8, 000 Internet voters, Hubble has already been used to take a close-up, multi-color picture of the most popular object from a list of candidates, the extraordinary 'polar-ring' galaxy NGC 4650A.
Located about 130 million light-years away, NGC 4650A is one of only 100 known polar-ring galaxies. Their unusual disk-ring structure is not yet understood fully. One possibility is that polar rings are the remnants of colossal collisions between two galaxies sometime in the distant past, probably at least 1 billion years ago. What is left of one galaxy has become the rotating inner disk of old red stars in the center.
Credit:About the Image
About the Object
Name: | NGC 4650A, Polar Ring Galaxy |
Type: | Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Ring |
Distance: | 150 million light years |
Constellation: | Centaurus |
Category: | Galaxies |
Wallpapers
Coordinates
Position (RA): | 12 44 49.49 |
Position (Dec): | -40° 42' 58.15" |
Field of view: | 1.13 x 2.43 arcminutes |
Orientation: | North is 23.9° left of vertical |
Colours & filters
Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
---|---|---|
Optical B | 450 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2 |
Optical V | 606 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2 |
Infrared I | 814 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2 |