The distant galaxy K20-ID5

This galaxy is located more than 10.5 billion light years away, at which distance high spatial resolution is needed to trace the different locations of the stars and gas. This near infrared image taken with NACO shows that the stars in this galaxy lie within a quite compact region. In contrast, the gas, which was observed with SINFONI, is very extended. This is not always the case: in another galaxy at a similar redshift, NACO and SINFONI observations (see ESO Press Release eso0631) show that the gas and stars lie in the same large disc. Observations like these are both remarkable and exciting. They yield important insights into the evolution of massive galaxies at early cosmological epochs, allowing us to distinguish between outflowing gas, rotating disk galaxies, and chaotic galaxy mergers.

Crédit:

ESO

À propos de l'image

Identification:eso0727d
Type:Observation
Date de publication:13 juin 2007
Communiqués de presse en rapport:eso0727
Taille:2400 x 2396 px

À propos de l'objet

Nom:K20-ID5
Type:Early Universe : Galaxy
Distance:z=2.2 (redshift)
Catégorie:Galaxies

Formats des images

Grand JPEG
563,3 Kio
JPEG taille écran
155,8 Kio

Fonds d'écran

1024x768
164,0 Kio
1280x1024
237,7 Kio
1600x1200
311,5 Kio
1920x1200
341,2 Kio
2048x1536
442,9 Kio

Couleurs & filtres

DomaineTélescope
Infrarouge
Near-IR
Very Large Telescope
SINFONI
Infrarouge
Near-IR
Very Large Telescope
NACO