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.

Crediti:

ESO

Riguardo l'immagine

Identificazione:eso0140a
Tipo:Osservazione
Data di rilascio:05 Dicembre 2001
Notizie relative:eso0140
Grandezza:793 x 637 px

Riguardo all'oggetto

Nome:MACHO
Tipo:Milky Way : Cosmology : Phenomenon : Dark Matter
Milky Way : Cosmology : Phenomenon : Lensing
Categoria:Cosmology

Formati delle immagini

JPEG grande
37,7 KB

Sfondi

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

Colori e filtri

BandaTelescopio
Ottico
B
Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2
Ottico
V
Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2
Infrarosso
I
Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2