The starburst galaxy NGC 253
eso_eso0902a January 19th, 2009
Credit: ESO
NGC 253 is one of the brightest spiral galaxies in the sky, and also one of the dustiest. The whole galaxy is shown here as observed with the WFI instrument, while the insert shows a close-up of the central parts as observed with the NACO instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope and the ACS on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This unique set of observations has allowed a team of astronomers from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (Spain) to study the galaxy in great detail, uncovering many young, massive and dusty stellar nurseries. They also found that the centre of this galaxy appears to harbour a twin of our own Milky Way's supermassive black hole.
Provider: European Southern Observatory
Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0902a/
Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, Germany
Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
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Source TIFF (94.2 MB)
Image Details
Position Details
Color Mapping
| Telescope | Spectral Band | Wavelength | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
MPG-2.2m (WFI) | Optical (Oiii) | - |
|
|
Hubble (ACS) | Infrared (Near-IR) | - |
|
MPG-2.2m (WFI) | Optical (V) | - |
|
|
VLT (NACO) | Infrared (J) | - |
|
MPG-2.2m (WFI) | Optical (R) | - |
|
|
MPG-2.2m (WFI) | Optical (H-alpha) | - |
| WFI data is for the main picture of NGC 253, all other observation data refers to the close-up image. | |||
- ID
- eso0902a
- Subject Category
- C.5.1.1
- Subject Name
- NGC 253
- Credits
- ESO
- Release Date
- 2009-01-19T00:00:00
- Lightyears
- Redshift
- Reference Url
- https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0902a/
- Type
- Observation
- Image Quality
- Distance Notes
- Facility
- MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope, Very Large Telescope, MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope, MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope
- Instrument
- WFI, ACS, WFI, NACO, WFI, WFI
- Color Assignment
- Blue, Blue, Green, Green, Red, Red
- Band
- Optical, Infrared, Optical, Infrared, Optical, Optical
- Bandpass
- Oiii, Near-IR, V, J, R, H-alpha
- Central Wavelength
- Start Time
- Integration Time
- Dataset ID
- Notes
- W
- Coordinate Frame
- ICRS
- Equinox
- J2000
- Reference Value
- 11.8902020999, -25.2849846151
- Reference Dimension
- 1280.0, 1160.0
- Reference Pixel
- 638.0, 578.0
- Scale
- -0.000427947507617, 0.000427947507617
- Rotation
- -1.57086658389
- Coordinate System Projection:
- TAN
- Quality
- Full
- FITS Header
- Notes
- Creator (Curator)
- European Southern Observatory
- URL
- http://www.eso.org/
- Name
- Telephone
- Address
- Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
- City
- Garching bei München
- State/Province
- Postal Code
- D-85748
- Country
- Germany
- Rights
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
- Publisher
- European Southern Observatory
- Publisher ID
- eso
- Resource ID
- eso0902a
- Resource URL
- https://www.eso.org/public/archives/images/original/eso0902a.tif
- Related Resources
- Metadata Date
- 2009-01-19T16:31:15+01:00
- Metadata Version
- 1.1
Detailed color mapping information coming soon...
