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Hubble View of Entire SWEEPS Field

Hubble View of Entire SWEEPS Field

This Hubble Space Telescope image shows a dense collection of stars crammed together in the Milky Way galaxy's ancient central hub. The region surveyed represents one entire field of the Sagittarius Window Eclipsing Extrasolar Planet Search (SWEEPS) program. The region is 26,000 light-years away.

Studying the stars in this field, astronomers identified for the first time 70 white dwarfs, the fading embers of sun-like stars. These ancient, dead stars hold information on the galaxy's infancy.

Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys made the observations in 2004 and 2011-2013.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    17h 59m 1.88s
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    -29° 13' 40.69"
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Sagittarius

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.
    Hubble data for this release were obtained from the following HST proposals: 9750: PI: K. Sahu (STScI), R. Gilliland (Pennsylvania State University), H. Bond (STScI/Pennsylvania State University), T. Brown (University of Colorado), S. Casertano and M. Livio (STScI), D. Minniti (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile), N. Panagia (STScI), A. Renzini (Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Italy), R. Rich (UCLA), and M. Zoccali (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile); and proposal; 12586: PI: K. Sahu (STScI), H. Bond (STScI/Pennsylvania State University), T. Brown, H. Ferguson, J. Anderson, and S. Casertano (STScI), M. Dominik (University of St. Andrews), A. Udalski (Warsaw University), M. Livio (STScI), Y. Perrott (University of Cambridge), M. Albrow (University of Canterbury), P. Yock (University of Auckland), C. Fryer (Los Alamos National Laboratory), S. Mao (Manchester University), and I. Bond (Massey University). The international team of astronomers in this study includes: A. Calamida, K. Sahu, S. Casertano, and J. Anderson (STScI), S. Cassisi (INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Teramo, Italy), M. Gennaro, M. Cignoni, T. Brown, N. Kains, H. Ferguson, and M. Livio (STScI), H. Bond (STScI/Pennsylvania State University), R. Buonanno (INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Teramo, Italy, and Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Roma, Italy), W. Clarkson (University of Michigan, Dearborn), I. Ferraro (INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Teramo, Italy), A. Pietrinferni (INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Italy), M. Salaris (Astrophysics Research Institute/Liverpool John Moores University), and J. Valenti and J. Sokol (STScI).
  • 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.
    2004, 2011-2013
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F606W (V) and F814W (I)
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    Sagittarius Window Eclipsing Extrasolar Planet Search (SWEEPS) Field
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Stellar Survey Field Near the Galactic Bulge
  • Release Date
    November 5, 2015
  • Science Release
    Hubble Uncovers Fading Cinders of Some of Our Galaxy’s Earliest Homesteaders
    Read the release
  • Credit
    NASA, ESA, A. Calamida and K. Sahu (STScI), and the SWEEPS Science Team

Downloads

  • 19734 × 14373
    jpg (271.57 MB)
  • 19734 × 14373
    tif (344.6 MB)
  • 6000 × 4370
    jpg (32.22 MB)
  • 1200 × 874
    jpg (829.79 KB)
  • 200 × 200
    jpg (26.3 KB)
  • 400 × 291
    jpg (90.26 KB)
  • 1280 × 932
    jpg (1.51 MB)
Hubble View of Entire SWEEPS Field
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

Blue: F606W (V) Green: (V) + (I) 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.

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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

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