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Compass Image of J0742+2704

Field of yellow galaxies of various sizes and distances on a black background, with text and labels. Two larger galaxies are prominent. Centered is a galaxy with a bright core and faint spiral arms coming off its top and bottom. Its bright core is circled with a dotted line and labeled Quasar. To the upper right of the spiral galaxy, an arc of faint gas is outlined with a dotted line and labeled Tidal Tail. To the lower right of the spiral is the second prominent galaxy, with an apparent gap between its bright core and an oval of dust and gas surrounding it, labeled Ring Galaxy. At the lower right corner of the image a compass points to North at 5 o'clock and East at 2 o'clock. Text at the upper left corner of the image reads J0742+2704, HST, WFC3/IR. The Hubble filter is indicated with text reading F140W in the same yellow color used on for the stars and galaxies.

Hubble captured intriguing hints of interaction, if not full merging, between galaxies including quasar J0742+2704. There is evidence of a distorted tidal tail, or a streamer of gas, that has been pulled out by the gravity of a nearby galaxy. The presence of a ring galaxy also suggests interaction: The distinctive shape of ring galaxies are thought to form when one galaxy passes through another, redistributing its contents into a central core circled by stars and gas.

Astronomers will be doing further analysis of Hubble's detailed spectroscopic data, plus follow-up with other telescopes that can see different types of light, to confirm the distances of the galaxies and how they may be affecting one another.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    07:42:48.40
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    +27:04:12.23
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Gemini
  • 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.
    About 5.94 billion light-years (z=0.6264)
  • Dimensions
    DimensionsThe physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
    Image is 1 arcmin across (about 1.7 million light-years)

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.

    This image was created with Hubble data from proposal: 16713 (K. Nyland); Image processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    WFC3/IR
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    10 April 2024
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F140W
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    Quasar J0742+2704
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Jet in an active galaxy
  • Release Date
    January 13, 2025
  • Science Release
    Hubble Reveals Surprising Spiral Shape of Galaxy Hosting Young Jet
    Read the release
  • Credit
    NASA, ESA, Kristina Nyland (U.S. Naval Research Laboratory); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

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Field of yellow galaxies of various sizes and distances on a black background, with text and labels. Two larger galaxies are prominent. Centered is a galaxy with a bright core and faint spiral arms coming off its top and bottom. Its bright core is circled with a dotted line and labeled Quasar. To the upper right of the spiral galaxy, an arc of faint gas is outlined with a dotted line and labeled Tidal Tail. To the lower right of the spiral is the second prominent galaxy, with an apparent gap between its bright core and an oval of dust and gas surrounding it, labeled Ring Galaxy. At the lower right corner of the image a compass points to North at 5 o'clock and East at 2 o'clock. Text at the upper left corner of the image reads J0742+2704, HST, WFC3/IR. The Hubble filter is indicated with text reading F140W in the same yellow color used on for the stars and galaxies.
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

This image was acquired by the WFC3 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. The color results from assigning a hue (color) to a monochromatic (grayscale) image. In this case, the assigned color is Orange: F140W

Related Images & Videos

Field of yellow galaxies of various sizes and distances on a black background. Two larger galaxies are prominent. Centered is a galaxy with a bright core and faint spiral arms coming off its top and bottom. To the lower right of the spiral is a ring galaxy with an apparent gap between its bright core and the ring oval of dust and gas surrounding it.

Spiral Quasar-host Galaxy J0742+2704

Quasar J0742+2704 (center) became the subject of astronomers' interest after it was discovered to have a newborn jet blasting from the disk around its supermassive black hole in 2020, using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) radio observatory. This led to follow-up with...

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Details

Last Updated
Mar 28, 2025
Contact
Media

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

Science Credit

NASA, ESA, Kristina Nyland (U.S. Naval Research Laboratory)

Image Processing Credit

Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

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