NGC 4278 & 4283 (2015)

This is a five panel mosaic of a pair of elliptical galaxies: NGC 4283 on the left and NGC 4278 on the right. Many background galaxies are also visible. In general, the fuzzier, more extended ones are background galaxies while the sharper, more point-like ones are globular clusters encircling NGC 4278. Interloping Milky Way stars are largely absent, but I think I see a few very dim ones.

There were some Chandra observations of NGC 4278 showing that several of the globular clusters are glowing in X-rays. chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2010/type1a/ (Yes, that’s Andromeda. The picture of NGC 4283 can be found in the right side column)

The blank corners are the edges of the fields where no data is available. Not too bad except for the upper left where it is extra noticeable next to NGC 4283. Chip gaps were filled with cloned data.

Two HST proposals related to this image are available:
Probing The Globular Cluster / Low Mass X-ray Binary Connection in Early-type Galaxies At Low X-ray Luminosities
Probing The Globular Cluster / Low Mass X-ray Binary Connection in Early-type Galaxies At Low X-ray Luminosities

Yes, they both have the same title. The second finished up where the first left off. I think it got interrupted by the ACS’s electrical problems. Good to be able to pick back up afterward thanks to some nice astronauts. You can see the noise stripes in the upper left field which started appearing after the mission which repaired the ACS. All the others were taken prior to Servicing Mission 4.

Red: ACS WFC F850LP
Green: Pseudo
Blue: ACS WFC F475W

North is up.

Copyright information:
Hubble data is public domain, but I put a lot of work into combining it into beautiful color images. The minimal credit line should read: NASA / ESA / J. Schmidt

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.