IRAS 04553-6825: first extra-galactic SiO maser

Eso_eso9618a_1024

eso_eso9618a March 6th, 1996

Credit: ESO

These photos show the location of the very large (`monster') star, IRAS 04553-6825, in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite galaxy to our Milky Way, some 160,000 light-years away. The first extragalactic silicon-oxide (SiO) maser has just been discovered in the atmosphere of this star by means of a new, very sensitive receiver at the SEST submillimetre telescope at the ESO La Silla Observatory. The upper photo is reproduced from a CCD frame that was obtained in January 1996 with the 3.5-metre New Technology Telescope (NTT) and the EMMI Multi-mode instrument. It is a 20-min H-alpha exposure which shows the large, interstellar clouds in this region of the LMC. IRAS 04553-6825 is situated at the centre of the square box, at the edge of the cloud, from which it was formed by contraction at an earlier epoch. The box measures approx. 1 x 1 arcmin and the full frame about 7 x 7 arcmin. North is up and east is left. The extremely red colour of this star is demonstrated on the four frames below. They show the field delimited by the box on exposures in four different spectral regions; from left to right: B (blue, 4000-5000 A), V (green-yellow, 5000 - 6000 A), R (red, 6000 - 7000 A) and I (infrared, 7000 - 9000 A). While the star is hardly visible in the blue, it is the brightest object on the infrared exposure. These CCD-frames were obtained in October 1995 with the 0.9-m Dutch telescope at La Silla. The exposure times were 10 min (B), 5 min (V), 2 min (R) and 1 min (I), respectively.

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso9618a/

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 Type
Observation
Object Name
IRAS 04553-6825
Subject - Local Universe
Star > Evolutionary Stage > Red Supergiant

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red ESO-Dutch-0.9m (None) Infrared (I) -
Red ESO-Dutch-0.9m (None) Optical (R) -
Red ESO-Dutch-0.9m (None) Optical (V) -
Red ESO-Dutch-0.9m (None) Optical (B) -
Red NTT (EMMI) Infrared (H) -
Eso_eso9618a_1280
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ID
eso9618a
Subject Category
C.3.1.5  
Subject Name
IRAS 04553-6825
Credits
ESO
Release Date
1996-03-06T00:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso9618a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Distance to the magellanic cloud in light years
Facility
Dutch 0.9-metre telescope, Dutch 0.9-metre telescope, Dutch 0.9-metre telescope, Dutch 0.9-metre telescope, New Technology Telescope
Instrument
None, None, None, None, EMMI
Color Assignment
Red, Red, Red, Red, Red
Band
Infrared, Optical, Optical, Optical, Infrared
Bandpass
I, R, V, B, H
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
60, 120, 300, 600, 72000
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
Equinox
Reference Value
Reference Dimension
775.0, 376.0
Reference Pixel
Scale
Rotation
Coordinate System Projection:
Quality
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
eso9618a
Metadata Date
2023-10-11T09:27:19.512494
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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