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The COSMOS field, or the Cosmic Evolution Survey Deep Field, is a stitched photograph of deep space, which was photographed with the Hubble Space Telescope's
Advanced Camera for Surveys The Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) is a third-generation axial instrument aboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The initial design and scientific capabilities of ACS were defined by a team based at Johns Hopkins University. ACS was assembl ...
in segments from 2003 to 2005, and was supported by several other ground-based and space-based telescopes. It was the capstone of the COSMOS project, which aimed to observe and study how
galaxies A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar Sys ...
are affected by celestial environments.


Description

The project and COSMOS field was a study of the way in which galaxies are influenced by
physical properties A physical property is any property of a physical system that is measurable. The changes in the physical properties of a system can be used to describe its changes between momentary states. A quantifiable physical property is called ''physical ...
and the environment that surrounds them. The COSMOS field was chosen to be the focal point of research due to its abundance of galaxies and other celestial bodies, and its scarcity of gas. The research from the project has been used to identify deep-space galaxies and their
astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline, James Keeler, said, astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the ...
. The Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) was a wide field observational astronomy project. It was aimed at observing the correlation between
galaxies A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar Sys ...
,
star formation Star formation is the process by which dense regions within molecular clouds in interstellar space—sometimes referred to as "stellar nurseries" or "star-forming regions"—Jeans instability, collapse and form stars. As a branch of astronomy, sta ...
s,
active galactic nuclei An active galactic nucleus (AGN) is a compact region at the center of a galaxy that emits a significant amount of energy across the electromagnetic spectrum, with characteristics indicating that this luminosity is not produced by the stars. Such e ...
and
dark matter In astronomy, dark matter is an invisible and hypothetical form of matter that does not interact with light or other electromagnetic radiation. Dark matter is implied by gravity, gravitational effects that cannot be explained by general relat ...
and how they evolve, with large-scale structures of the universe. The survey included imaging in multiple wavelengths and
spectroscopic analysis Spectroscopy is the field of study that measures and interprets electromagnetic spectra. In narrower contexts, spectroscopy is the precise study of color as generalized from visible light to all bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. Spectrosc ...
from
X-ray An X-ray (also known in many languages as Röntgen radiation) is a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays. Roughly, X-rays have a wavelength ran ...
s to
radio wave Radio waves (formerly called Hertzian waves) are a type of electromagnetic radiation with the lowest frequencies and the longest wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum, typically with frequencies below 300 gigahertz (GHz) and wavelengths g ...
s, in a region of two square degrees in the Constellation Sextans. COSMOS, when it was proposed in 2003 as an exploratory survey to be carried out with the Advanced Camera for Surveys of the Hubble, was the largest HST project ever approved. Combined with the fact that the area of sky proposed as a survey had never been the subject of observations, the project has stimulated the main world astronomical structures to explore the sky in this direction, thus resulting in one of the most substantial, deepest and most uniform data sets in the entire
electromagnetic spectrum The electromagnetic spectrum is the full range of electromagnetic radiation, organized by frequency or wavelength. The spectrum is divided into separate bands, with different names for the electromagnetic waves within each band. From low to high ...
. Over two million galaxies have been identified in the COSMOS field.
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
and the
ESO The European Southern Observatory is an astronomical research organisation. ESO may also refer to: *Employee stock option (also: executive stock option) *'' Ether Saga Odyssey'', a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game *''The Elde ...
studied the COSMOS region, the region in which the mosaic was taken, and further research is ongoing. The mosaic itself covers a 2 square degree equatorial field. The age of the galaxies differ, spanning 75% of the age of the
observable universe The observable universe is a Ball (mathematics), spherical region of the universe consisting of all matter that can be observation, observed from Earth; the electromagnetic radiation from these astronomical object, objects has had time to reach t ...
. HubbleSite states that "the COSMOS field is Hubble's largest contiguous survey of the universe, that covers two square degrees of sky. By comparison, the Earth's
Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...
is one-half degree across. The field is being imaged by most major space-based and ground-based telescopes". To compare, the well-known
Hubble Ultra-Deep Field The Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (HUDF) is a List of deep fields, deep-field image of a small region of outer space, space in the constellation Fornax, containing an estimated 10,000 galaxies. The original data for the image was collected by the Hub ...
is the farthest visible view into the universe." The COSMOS field is the largest-ever contiguous survey of the Universe taken by the Hubble, and was the largest Hubble project ever approved before the CANDELS project was carried out from 2010 to 2013.


Gallery

File:COSMOS field.jpg, COSMOS field imaged by the Canada France Hawaii Telescope (CFHT). Red crosses mark some of the active galaxies with supermassive black holes at their centers. File:The COSMOS Hubble ACS Field (2021-042-01FD7GZBGRTJ7H8AVYGK3CP7ZV).png, The full mosaic composed of 575 separate ACS images File:Sample of non-star-forming galaxies from the COSMOS survey.jpg, Sample of non-star-forming galaxies from the COSMOS survey


See also

*
Cosmic Evolution Survey The Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) is a Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Treasury Project to survey a two square degree equatorial field with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). The largest survey ever undertaken by HST, the project incorpora ...
*
Hubble Deep Field The Hubble Deep Field (HDF) is an image of a small region in the constellation Ursa Major, constructed from a series of observations by the Hubble Space Telescope. It covers an area about 2.6 arcminutes on a side, about one 24-millionth of the ...
, another large sky survey image taken by the Hubble *
Hubble Ultra-Deep Field The Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (HUDF) is a List of deep fields, deep-field image of a small region of outer space, space in the constellation Fornax, containing an estimated 10,000 galaxies. The original data for the image was collected by the Hub ...
, another deep-space sky survey image taken by the Hubble * List of deep fields


References

{{Reflist


External links


Overview of the image, by ESA Science & Technology
Hubble Space Telescope images Astronomy image articles Astronomical surveys Astrophotography Largest things Sextans Sky regions