Big Galaxy in Baby Universe
Ssc2005 19a

Credit: NASA, ESA/JPL-Caltech/B. Mobasher (STScI/ESA)

Observation • September 27th, 2005 • ssc2005-19a

ssc2005-19a

NASA's Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes combined forces to uncover one of the most distant galaxies ever seen. The faraway galaxy, named HUDF-JD2 (in green circles) is not seen in Hubble's visible-light image (upper right), but was detected using Hubble's near infrared camera and multi-object spectrometer (lower left). It appears even brighter at the longer infrared wavelengths, as revealed by the Spitzer infrared camera (lower right).

At visible wavelengths, the light from the galaxy is absorbed by intervening hydrogen gas, and so the galaxy appears faint in the Hubble visible and near-infrared images. The surprise is how bright is appears to Spitzer in the infrared, suggesting a very massive and distant galaxy.

About the Object

Name
HUDF-JD2UDF033238.74-274839.9
Type
Galaxy > Size > Giant
Distance
12,800,000,000 Light Years
Redshift
6.5

Color Mapping

Band Wavelength Telescope
Infrared Spitzer IRAC
Infrared Hubble NICMOS
Optical Hubble ACS

Astrometrics

Position ()
RA =3h 32m 28.7s
Dec = -26° 11' 20.1"
Field of View
0.0 x 0.0 arcminutes
Orientation
North is up