VLT looks into the eyes of the Virgin

Eso_eso1131a_1024

eso_eso1131a August 24th, 2011

Credit: ESO

This striking image, taken with the FORS2 instrument on the Very Large Telescope, shows a beautiful yet peculiar pair of galaxies, NGC 4438 and NGC 4435, nicknamed The Eyes. The larger of these, at the top of the picture, NGC 4438, is thought to have once been a spiral galaxy that was strongly deformed by collisions in the relatively recent past. The two galaxies belong to the Virgo Cluster and are about 50 million light-years away.

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1131a/

Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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Image Details Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Eyes Galaxies • NGC 4435 • NGC 4438
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Interacting
Eso_eso1131a_128
 

Position Details Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 12h 27m 45.7s
DEC = 13° 0’ 31.0”
Orientation
North is 120.0° CW
Field of View
7.5 x 6.3 arcminutes
Constellation
Virgo

Color Mapping Details Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red VLT (FORS2) (R) -
Green VLT (FORS2) (Pseudogreen (V+R)) -
Blue VLT (FORS2) (V) -
Eso_eso1131a_1280
×
ID
eso1131a
Subject Category
C.5.1.7  
Subject Name
Eyes Galaxies, NGC 4435, NGC 4438
Credits
ESO
Release Date
2011-08-24T12:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1131a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope
Instrument
FORS2, FORS2, FORS2
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue
Band
Bandpass
R, Pseudogreen (V+R), V
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
186.940312, 13.008617
Reference Dimension
1781.0, 1499.0
Reference Pixel
754.805142287, 1067.8985329
Scale
-7.000497e-05, 7.000497e-05
Rotation
-119.98155596329
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
European Southern Observatory
URL
http://www.eso.org/
Name
Email
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
eso1131a
Resource URL
https://www.eso.org/public/archives/images/original/eso1131a.tif
Related Resources
Metadata Date
2011-07-05T11:30:29+02:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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