This is a corner of the constellation Vulina (Clock) in the southern sky. The three galaxies shown side by side are the largest one on the far right, NGC 1356, the one directly to its left is LEDA 95415, and the one a little further away on the left is IC 1947. It is called. Now, which of the three galaxies do you think is the closest to Earth?
[â–²ThreegalaxiesshiningintheconstellationScorpioFromtheright:”NGC1356″”LEDA95415″”IC1947″(Credit:ESA/Hubble&NASAJDalcantonDarkEnergySurvey/DOE/FNAL/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA;Acknowledgment:LShatz)]
According to the European Space Agency (ESA), NGC 1356 is about 550 million light-years from Earth, and LEDA 95415, which is seen right next to it, is about 840 million light-years away. Although the two galaxies appear to be close enough to collide, they are actually nearly 300 million light years apart. On the other hand, IC 1947, which is seen far away from the two galaxies, is approximately 500 million light years from Earth. In other words, the correct answer is IC 1947.
This image was created using data acquired by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST)’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Observations such as NGC 1356 by the Hubble Space Telescope are part of the 2021 effort to search for galaxies that can be the subject of future detailed observations by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Hubble Space Telescope itself. It was carried out in March of this year.
In addition to the Hubble Space Telescope’s ACS, optical observation data from the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) installed on the Blanco 4m Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Pan-American Observatory was used to create the images. I am. As the name suggests, DECam is an observation device developed with the main purpose of researching dark energy, and observations for the original purpose of dark energy research were conducted from 2013 to 2019. Ta.
The first image was published by ESA as “Hubble Space Telescope Image of the Week” on December 25, 2023.
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Text/sorae editorial department
