NGC 4993

The galaxy NGC 4993 is located about 130 million light-years from Earth. On August 17, 2017, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory detected gravitational waves from a neutron star collision within this galaxy. The event also resulted in a flare of light called a kilonova, which is visible to the upper left of the galactic center in this Hubble Space Telescope image.

About the colours

This image is a composite of separate exposures made by the WFC3 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope using two different cameras and filters isolating the light of specific elements or of specific broad wavelength ranges. The color arises by assigning different hues (colors), to each monochromatic image. In this case, the colors are: blue WFC3/UVIS F606W, green WFC3/IR F110W, orange/red: WFC3/IR F160W.

About the data

Data were provided by the HST proposals 14840 (A. Bellini, P.I.), 14804 (A. Levan, P.I.), 14771 (N. Tanvir, P.I.)