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COSMOS Barred Spiral Galaxies

These images show four spiral galaxies with bars of stars and gas slicing through them.

The galaxies are at various distances from Earth. The galaxy at upper left is 2.1 billion light-years away; the galaxy at upper right, 3.8 billion light-years away; the galaxy at lower left, 5.3 billion light-years away; and the galaxy at lower right, 6.4 billion light-years away.

The galaxies are part of a landmark study of more than 2,000 spiral galaxies from the largest galaxy census conducted by the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.

The survey's results show that so-called barred spiral galaxies were far less plentiful over the last 7 billion years than they are today, in the local universe. The study's results confirm the idea that bars are a sign of galaxies reaching full maturity as the "formative years" end. The observations are part of the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS).

COSMOS covers an area of sky nine times larger than the full Moon, surveying 10 times more spiral galaxies than previous observations.

Astronomers assembled these images from observations taken with Hubble and the Subaru Telescope in Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

The observations were taken between fall 2003 and spring 2005.

About the Object

R.A. Position
R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
10h 0m 0.0s
Dec. Position
Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
02° 12' 0.0"
Constellation
ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
Sextans
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.
The COSMOS survey field covers 2 square degrees.

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.
K. Sheth (Caltech), D. Elmegreen (Vassar College), B. Elmegreen (IBM/ T. J. Watson Center, NY), N. Scoville (Caltech), P. Capak, R. Ellis, M. Salvato, and L. Spalsbury (Caltech), R. Abraham (University of Toronto), E. Anthanassoula (Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille), B. Mobasher (University of California, Riverside), E. Schinnerer (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg), L. Strubbe and A. West (University of California, Berkeley), M. Rich (University of California, Los Angeles), and M. Carollo (ETH Zurich). Hubble data PI: Scoville: 9822; 10092 Hubble data PI: Taniguchi
Instrument
InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
HST>ACS/WFC and Subaru>Suprime-Cam
Exposure Dates
Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
October 2003 - May 2004 (HST), and Jan-Feb 2004; 2005 (Subaru)
Filters
FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
ACS: F814W (I) Suprime-Cam: B,V,R

Object Name
Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
COSMOS Field, Cosmological Evolution Survey Field
Object Description
Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
Astronomical Survey
Release Date
July 29, 2008
Science Release
Barred Spiral Galaxies Are Latecomers to the Universe
Read the release
Credit
NASA, ESA, K. Sheth (Spitzer Science Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.), and P. Capak and N. Scoville (California Institute of Technology)

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White: F814W (I) Blue: Suprime-Cam B Green: Suprime-Cam V Red: Suprime-Cam R

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