ACS image of ESO 306-17
This image from the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope highlights the large and bright elliptical galaxy called ESO 306-17 in the southern sky.
In this image, it appears that ESO 306-17 is surrounded by other galaxies but the bright galaxies at bottom left are thought to be in the foreground, not at the same distance in the sky. In reality, ESO 306-17 lies fairly abandoned in an enormous sea of dark matter and hot gas.
Researchers are also using this image to search for nearby ultra-compact dwarf galaxies. Ultra-compact dwarfs are mini versions of dwarf galaxies that have been left with only their core due to interaction with larger, more powerful galaxies. Most ultra-compact dwarfs discovered to date are located near giant elliptical galaxies in large clusters of galaxies, so it will be interesting to see if researchers find similar objects in fossil groups.
Credit:About the Image
Id: | heic1004a |
Type: | Observation |
Release date: | 4 March 2010, 16:00 |
Related releases: | heic1004 |
Size: | 3855 x 3831 px |
About the Object
Name: | ESO 306-17 |
Type: | Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Elliptical |
Distance: | 500 million light years |
Constellation: | Columba |
Category: | Galaxies |
Wallpapers
Coordinates
Position (RA): | 5 40 7.50 |
Position (Dec): | -40° 49' 57.87" |
Field of view: | 3.21 x 3.19 arcminutes |
Orientation: | North is 140.0° left of vertical |
Colours & filters
Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
---|---|---|
Optical B | 475 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |
Optical Pseudogreen (B+I) |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS | |
Infrared I | 850 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |