Press pages | The Lyman Alpha Reference Sample

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Light and dust in a nearby starburst galaxy


LARS 09, a.k.a. IRAS 08208+2816, a.k.a. SDSS J082354.97+280621.7 in the F336W (blue), F438W (green) and F775W (red). Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA


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Science Paper





Composite emission line images

      Red : Hα.
      green : far ultraviolet continuum.
      blue : Lymanα.
I.e.: hot ionizing stars are shown in green, and the nebulae they create are shown in red. Lyα is produced in the same nebulae as the Hα, but the blue colour that encodes Lyα clearly does resemble that of the red. This is because Lyα scatters off neutral hydrogen which is very abundant in and around galaxies, and thus Lyα must find different paths - sometimes long and complicated ones - through the interstellar medium in order to escape. Consequently large `haloes' of Lyα are frequently seen (most clearly in LARS 01, 02, 05, 07, 14) that surround the star-forming regions of the galaxies.

LARS - the Lyman alpha Reference Sample is an ongoing programme with the Hubble Space telescope: GO 12310 and 12583.

Click on each one to embiggenate.

LARS 01 LARS 02
LARS 03 LARS 04
LARS 05 LARS 06
LARS 07 LARS 08
LARS 09 LARS 10
LARS 11 LARS 12
LARS 13 LARS 14