Elliptical galaxy IC 2006

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows an elliptical galaxy known as IC 2006. Massive elliptical galaxies like these are common in the modern Universe, but how they quenched their once furious rates of star formation is an astrophysical mystery. Now, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) have revealed that three billion years after the Big Bang, these types of galaxies still made stars on their outskirts, but no longer in their interiors. The quenching of star formation seems to have started in the cores of the galaxies and then spread to the outer parts.

Credit:

ESA/Hubble & NASA Image acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt and J. Blakeslee (Dominion Astrophysical Observatory). Note that the image is not related to science release content. Science acknowledgement: M. Carollo (ETH, Switzerland)

About the Image

Id:eso1516b
Type:Observation
Release date:16 April 2015, 20:00
Related releases:eso1516
Size:3895 x 2751 px

About the Object

Name:IC 2006
Type:Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Elliptical
Constellation:Eridanus
Category:Galaxies

Image Formats

Large JPEG
2.6 MB
Screensize JPEG
126.0 KB

Zoomable


Wallpapers

1024x768
130.9 KB
1280x1024
238.6 KB
1600x1200
370.9 KB
1920x1200
471.2 KB
2048x1536
680.6 KB

Coordinates

Position (RA):3 54 28.41
Position (Dec):-35° 58' 1.24"
Field of view:3.25 x 2.29 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 25.5° left of vertical

Colours & filters

BandWavelengthTelescope
Optical
B
475 nmHubble Space Telescope
ACS
Optical
B
475 nmHubble Space Telescope
ACS
Infrared
I
814 nmHubble Space Telescope
ACS
Infrared
I
814 nmHubble Space Telescope
ACS