Image of a MACHO

This image is based on three exposures from the WFPC2 camera at the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained in the V-, R- and I-bands (shown as blue, green and red, respectively). It shows the first image of a Dark Matter object — a MACHO (a massive compact object). It is the red object that is indicated with an arrow and very near to the upper left (at 2 o''clock) of a blue background star. This MACHO is a nearby red dwarf star that gravitationally focused light from the blue background star in another galaxy in a so-called microlensing event. Since the event six years ago, the MACHO has moved 0.134 arcseconds on the sky and can now be clearly separated in the Hubble image.

Credit:

ESO

Over de afbeelding

Id:eso0140a
Type:Observatie
Publicatiedatum:5 december 2001
Gerelateerde berichten:eso0140
Grootte:793 x 637 px

Over het object

Naam:MACHO
Type:Milky Way : Cosmology : Phenomenon : Dark Matter
Milky Way : Cosmology : Phenomenon : Lensing
Categorie:Cosmology

Afbeeldingstypen

Grote JPEG
37,7 KB

Achtergrond

1024x768
42,0 KB
1280x1024
58,3 KB
1600x1200
70,1 KB
1920x1200
79,1 KB
2048x1536
96,5 KB

Kleuren & filters

BandTelescoop
Optisch
B
Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2
Optisch
V
Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2
Infrarood
I
Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2