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Press release | CNRS, Observatoire de Paris- PSL, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur

New spectrograph of the William Herschel Telescope (Canary Islands, Spain), WEAVE has just successfully collected its first galaxy lights. The observation of the Stephan’s Quintet, a group of five galaxies, has demonstrated its unprecedented capabilities and promises many discoveries to the astronomical community. In France, WEAVE has been supported by the CNRS, the Observatoire de Paris-PSL and the Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur.

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Observations almost 100 times faster than before
This is the power that the WEAVE instrument installed on the William Herschel telescope at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory makes available to astronomers. It has just proved it by capturing its first lights, coming from Stephan’s Quintet, a group of five galaxies, some of which are colliding.

Mode d’observation de WEAVE pointant vers le Quintette de Stephan pour l’observation de la première lumière
Il recueille la lumière de 547 points du ciel qui seront analysés par le spectrographe. L’observation fournit des informations physiques de chaque région distincte de chaque galaxie ainsi que de l’espace qui les sépare.
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Aladin

Scientists from the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes (ING) [1] were particularly interested in the latter, NGC 7318a and NGC 7318b. The spectra reveal the presence of gas well outside the galactic disks : the hydrogen clouds are pushed out of their orbits by the high speed intrusion, almost 3 million km/h, of the galaxy NGC 7318b, which is moving directly towards us through the center of the Stephan Quintet (see images).

These observations were made with one of the three modes of WEAVE, in which 547 closely spaced optical fibers send light from a hexagonal area of the sky to the spectrograph, where it is analyzed and recorded. WEAVE’s first light demonstrates not only that it works, but also that it produces high-quality data promising important discoveries in the years to come.

Vitesses dérivées des spectres WEAVE (en bleu, vert et rouge) superposées sur une image composite du Quintette de Stephan
Les vitesses indiquent que la galaxie centre-gauche NGC 7318b (en bleu) est une intruse tardive, entrant dans le groupe par l’arrière et passant devant NGC 7318a (en rouge) à 800 km/s (près de 3 000 000 km/h) par le centre du Quintette de Stephan. Cette collision à grande vitesse crée des ravages dans NGC 7318b, notamment au niveau de ses réservoirs d’hydrogène gazeux qui sont dépouillés. Il est probable que la formation de nouvelles étoiles dans cette galaxie soit fortement ralentie car l’hydrogène est le premier carburant de ce processus.
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Aladin
What you should know :

  • WEAVE has conducted its first observations of the Stephan’s Quintet, a group of five galaxies, some of which are colliding.
  • These observations are proof of its exceptional capabilities and promise important discoveries.

**French contribution

The construction of WEAVE was funded in France by the CNRS, the Observatoire de Paris-PSL, the Île-de-France [2] and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.

WEAVE also benefited from the expertise of the laboratories Galaxies, étoiles, physique, instrumentation (Observatoire de Paris - PSL / CNRS) and Lagrange (CNRS/Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur/Université Côte d’Azur), with the support of the Observatoire des sciences de l’Univers Terre homme environnement temps astronomie (CNRS/Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté) and the Institut Univers, temps-fréquence, interfaces, nanostructures, atmosphère et environnement, molécules (CNRS/Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté).

These French laboratories will participate with others [3] in the future programs of observations.

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[1The ING consists of two telescopes located at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory. In 2016, the ING partnership countries (the United Kingdom, Spain, and the Netherlands), joined by France and Italy, signed an agreement to design and build WEAVE, with each country contributing major components, and ING providing ancillary systems and overall project management

[2The WEAVE project was funded under the Domaine d’intérêt majeur "Astrophysics and conditions for the appearance of life" 2012-2016 of the Île-de-France region.

[3The Laboratory of Astrophysics of Marseille (CNRS/Aix-Marseille University/CNES), the Laboratory of Astrophysics of Bordeaux (CNRS/University of Bordeaux), the Institute of Planetology and Astrophysics of Grenoble (CNRS/University of Grenoble Alpes) and the Astronomical Observatory of Strasbourg (CNRS/University of Strasbourg)