The COSMOS field

This very deep image shows the COSMOS field imaged by the Canada France Hawaii Telescope (CFHT). Huge numbers of very faint galaxies are visible. A new study of this field, combining data from ESO’s Very Large Telescope and ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray space observatory has turned up a big surprise. Most of the huge black holes in the centres of active galaxies in the past 11 billion years were not turned on by mergers between galaxies, as had been previously thought. Some of the active galaxies with supermassive black holes at their centres that were used in the new study are marked with red crosses on this picture.

Credit:

CFHT/IAP/Terapix/CNRS/ESO

About the Image

Id:eso1124a
Type:Observation
Release date:13 July 2011, 12:00
Related releases:eso1124
Size:4758 x 4758 px

About the Object

Name:COSMOS Field
Type:Early Universe : Cosmology : Morphology : Deep Field
Early Universe : Galaxy : Activity : AGN
Constellation:Sextans
Category:Cosmology
Galaxies
Quasars and Black Holes

Image Formats

Large JPEG
11.1 MB
Screensize JPEG
661.4 KB

Zoomable


Wallpapers

1024x768
520.7 KB
1280x1024
854.5 KB
1600x1200
1.2 MB
1920x1200
1.4 MB
2048x1536
1.9 MB

Coordinates

Position (RA):10 0 30.12
Position (Dec):2° 12' 38.80"
Field of view:59.00 x 59.00 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 1.6° right of vertical

Colours & filters

BandTelescope
Optical
G
Other
Optical
R
Other
Infrared
I
Other