Suggested Searches

 

1 min read

Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1313 – HST

Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1313 - HST
This is a NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of the central region of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1313. Hubble was used to resolve stars within the galaxy to do a census of various classes of stars distributed across the galaxy. The observations show that hot blue stars (of class B) are widely scattered across the galaxy. This is evidence of "infant mortality" in which the young, so-called open clusters where stars are born, quickly became gravitationally "unglued" and scattered their resident stars into the galaxy. NGC 1313 is 50,000 light-years across and lies 14 million light-years away in the southern constellation of Reticulum.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    03h 18m 15.39s
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    -66° 29' 49.99"
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Reticulum
  • Distance
    DistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
    Approximately 14 million light-years (4.2 million parsecs).

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.
    The Hubble image was created from HST data from proposal 9796: J. Miller (University of Michigan), G. Fabbiano and A. Zezas (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astropysics), P. Kaaret (University of Iowa), J. Grindlay (Harvard University), A. Kong (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), A. King (University of Leicester, UK), M. Ward (University of Durham, UK), V. Kalogera (Northwestern University), M. Krauss (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), M. Garcia (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astropysics). The science team is composed: of A. Pellerin and M. Meyer (STScI), J. Harris (Stewart Observatory), and D. Calzetti (STScI). Note: Other Hubble ACS data (proposal 9494; PI: P. Padovani) and ground-based data (VLT; H. Boffin) were used to fill in the undithered chip gap. The information contained within this section pertains to data from proposal 9797 only.
  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    HST>ACS/WFC
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    November 22, 2003 and February 22, 2004, Exposure Time: 2.8 hours (right)
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F435W (B), F555W (V), and F814W (I)
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    NGC 1313
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Barred Spiral Galaxy
  • Release Date
    January 10, 2007
  • Science Release
    Hubble Sees Star Cluster “Infant Mortality”
    Read the release
  • Credit
    NASA, ESA, and A. Pellerin (STScI)

Downloads

  • 460 × 500
    jpg (131.61 KB)
  • 230 × 250
    jpg (31.04 KB)
  • 3372 × 3663
    jpg (18.44 MB)
  • 3372 × 3663
    tif (34.38 MB)
  • 736 × 800
    jpg (112.9 KB)
  • 200 × 200
    jpg (11.75 KB)
  • 331 × 360
    jpg (24.65 KB)
  • 1178 × 1280
    jpg (2.62 MB)
Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1313 - HST
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

This image is a composite of many separate exposures made by the ACS instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope using several different filters. Two filters were used to sample broad wavelength ranges. One filter was used to sample narrow wavelength emission. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic image. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: F435W (B) Green: F555W (V) Red: F814W (I)

Compass and Scale
Compass and ScaleAn astronomical image with a scale that shows how large an object is on the sky, a compass that shows how the object is oriented on the sky, and the filters with which the image was made.

Related Images & Videos

Stellar "Infant Mortality" in Spiral Galaxy NGC 1313

Stellar "Infant Mortality" in Spiral Galaxy NGC 1313

[Left] - This is a view of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1313 taken with the the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile on Dec. 16, 2003 through various broad-band (B, R, z) and narrow-band filters (H-alpha, [o I], [O III]). The color composited image...

Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1313 - VLT

Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1313 - VLT

This is a view of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1313 taken with the the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile on Dec. 16, 2003 through various broad-band (B, R, z) and narrow-band filters (H-alpha, [o I], [O III]). The color composited image was made...

Share

Details

Last Updated
Mar 14, 2025
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

Related Terms

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

Hubble Space Telescope

Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.

Hubble Science Highlights

Hubble Images

Hubble News