Caption
This image of galaxies IC 2163 and NGC 2207, captured by the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes. Hubble’s data are from its Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2). Webb’s data are from its MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument).
The image shows a scale bar, compass arrows, and color key for reference.
The scale bar is labeled in light-years along the top, which is the distance that light travels in one Earth-year. (It takes three years for light to travel a distance equal to the length of the scale bar.) One light-year is equal to about 5.88 trillion miles or 9.46 trillion kilometers.
The scale bar is also labeled in arcminutes, which is a measure of angular distance on the sky. One arcsecond is equal an angular measurement of 1/3600 of one degree. There are 60 arcminutes in a degree and 60 arcseconds in an arcminute. (The full Moon has an angular diameter of about 30 arcminutes.) The actual size of an object that covers one arcsecond on the sky depends on its distance from the telescope.
The north and east compass arrows show the orientation of the image on the sky. Note that the relationship between north and east on the sky (as seen from below) is flipped relative to direction arrows on a map of the ground (as seen from above).
This image shows invisible ultraviolet, visible, and mid-infrared wavelengths of light that have been translated into visible-light colors. The color key shows which WFPC2 and MIRI filters were used when collecting the light. The color of each filter name is the visible-light color used to represent the infrared light that passes through that filter.
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | IC 2163 and NGC 2207 |
| Object Description | Spiral Galaxies |
| R.A. Position | 06:16:24.9 |
| Dec. Position | -21:22:26 |
| Constellation | Canis Major |
| Distance | 114 million light-years |
| Dimensions | The image is 4.8 arcminutes across (about 160,000 light-years). |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | This image was created with Hubble data from proposal: 6483 (D. Elmegreen) and Webb data from proposal 6553 (M. Garcia Marin). Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI) |
| Instrument | Hubble: WFPC2; Webb: MIRI |
| Exposure Dates | Hubble: May 25, 1996; November 11, 1998; Webb: January 26, February 2, 2024 |
| Filters | Hubble: F439W, F555W, F814W; Webb: F770W, F1130W, F1500W |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes using Hubble's WFPC2 and Webb's MIRI instruments. Several filters were used to sample wide wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: F439W Green: F555W Red: F814W, Orange: F770W + F1130W + F1500W |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The 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. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Compass and Scale Image | An 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. |
