Himiko (IMAGE)
Caption
This composite image reveals the structure of Himiko, an object representing the merger of three young, bright galaxies as seen in the early universe. The left panel shows the section of the sky containing Himiko (identified in box) and other distant galaxies, as imaged by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). The image in the upper right is a close-up of Himiko with Hubble. The three infant galaxies are clearly resolved where only one was known to exist before. These objects are extremely energetic, suggesting they are undergoing a period of intense star formation. The image in the lower right is the same object with additional data from the Spitzer Space Telescope and Subaru Telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The halo of ionized hydrogen gas is clearly seen surrounding Himiko. Observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array telescope did not detect any telltale signature from carbon, suggesting that these three objects may be very primitive and have not had enough time to seed the intergalactic medium with heavy elements.
Credit
NASA/Hubble; NASA/Spitzer; NAOJ/Subaru
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