VLT observes the Antennae Galaxies

Eso_potw1140a_1024

eso_potw1140a October 3rd, 2011

Credit: ESO/A. Milani

A new Very Large Telescope (VLT) image of the Antennae Galaxies gives us what may be the second-best visible-light view yet of this striking pair of colliding galaxies with dramatically distorted shapes. This amazing object takes its name from the long antenna-like "arms" extending far out from the nuclei of the two galaxies, best seen in wider-field images by ground-based telescopes such as the one at this link. This VLT view focuses instead on the galaxies’ nuclei, where the real action is taking place as the two galaxies merge into a single giant galaxy. Spurred by shock waves created by their gravitational wrestling, the two galaxies have become dotted with brilliant blue hot young stars in star-forming regions, surrounded by glowing hydrogen gas, shown here in pink. The two pale yellow blobs are the cores of the original galaxies, shining with the light of old stars and picked out by delicate lanes of dust.  The Antennae Galaxies were immortalised in 2006 by one of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s most famous images (composed by ESA’s Hubble group residing at ESO). If you are hungry for more information about this amazing object, read the just-published ESO press release about the first image from ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, which has just started its Early Science observations. ALMA , constructed by ESO and its international partners, observes the Universe in light with millimetre and submillimetre wavelengths — radically different from visible-light and infrared telescopes. ALMA’s view is the best submillimetre-wavelength image ever made of the Antennae Galaxies, despite being just a taster of what ALMA will deliver. The ALMA image was made using test data from only twelve antennas, and as the observatory grows, the sharpness, efficiency, and quality of its observations will increase dramatically. This image was processed by ESO using the observational data found by Alberto Milani (Italy), who submitted it to ESO’s "Your ESO Pictures" Flickr group.

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1140a/

Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Antennae Galaxies
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Interacting
Eso_potw1140a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 12h 1m 53.7s
DEC = -18° 52’ 28.2”
Orientation
North is 0.2° CCW
Field of View
3.2 x 3.2 arcminutes
Constellation
Corvus

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Magenta VLT (FORS1) Optical (H-alpha + Nii) 658.0 nm
Red VLT (FORS1) Infrared (I) 814.0 nm
Green VLT (FORS1) Optical (V) 550.0 nm
Blue VLT (FORS1) Optical (B) 435.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Magenta
Red
Green
Blue
Eso_potw1140a_1280
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ID
potw1140a
Subject Category
C.5.1.7  
Subject Name
Antennae Galaxies
Credits
ESO/A. Milani
Release Date
2011-10-03T11:30:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1140a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope
Instrument
FORS1, FORS1, FORS1, FORS1
Color Assignment
Magenta, Red, Green, Blue
Band
Optical, Infrared, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
H-alpha + Nii, I, V, B
Central Wavelength
658, 814, 550, 435
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
180.473578322, -18.874493768
Reference Dimension
1923.0, 1923.0
Reference Pixel
961.5, 961.5
Scale
-2.7763736238e-05, 2.7763736238e-05
Rotation
0.22608643002535159
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
potw1140a
Metadata Date
2011-09-30T13:47:30+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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