Spiral Galaxy NGC 6744

Wise_wise2010-019_1024

wise_WISE2010-019 June 4th, 2010

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA

This image of spiral galaxy NGC 6744 from NASAs WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) is a mosaic of frames covering an area 3 full Moons tall and 3 full Moons wide (1.56 x 1.56 degrees). It is located in a constellation in the Southern sky, Pavo, whose name is Latin for peacock.

There are relatively few large spiral galaxies in the local Universe (within about 40 million light-years of the Local Group of galaxies). At a distance from our Solar System of about 30 million light-years, NGC 6744 is one of the galaxies in the local Universe most like the Milky Way. So if there are observers somewhere in this sibling galaxy looking back at the Milky Way they might see a very similar image.

Its disk is about 175,000 light-years across, larger than the Milky Way Galaxy. So it is kind of like a big brother of the Milky Way. It has an elongated (barred) core and distinct spiral arms. The spiral arms of the disk are the sites of star formation within the galaxy and are very dusty. Dust and star formation go together hand-in-hand. Dust in star forming regions is relatively warm (temperatures of hundreds of Kelvins) and shows up as green and red in this infrared image from WISE. Throughout the disk and core are many, many older generations of stars whose temperatures are in the thousands of Kelvins. These stars are color-coded blue and cyan in this image.

This image was made from observations by all four infrared detectors aboard WISE. Blue and cyan represent infrared light at wavelengths of 3.4 and 4.6 microns, which is primarily light from stars. Green and red represent light at 12 and 22 microns, which is primarily emission from warm dust.

Provider: Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer

Image Source: /image/wise/WISE2010-019

Curator: Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Berkeley, CA, USA

Image Use Policy: Pulic Domain

Download Options

  • Full Size Image (1600 x 1600)

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
NGC 6744
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Spiral
Galaxy > Type > Barred

Distance

Universescale2
10,000,000 light years
Wise_wise2010-019_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 19h 9m 46.5s
DEC = -63° 51’ 26.8”
Orientation
North is 189.0° CCW
Field of View
36.7 x 36.7 arcminutes
Constellation
Pavo

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue WISE Infrared (Near-IR) 3.4 µm
Cyan WISE Infrared (Near-IR) 4.6 µm
Green WISE Infrared (Mid-IR) 12.0 µm
Red WISE Infrared (Mid-IR) 22.0 µm
Spectrum_ir1
Blue
Cyan
Green
Red
Wise_wise2010-019_1280
×
ID
WISE2010-019
Subject Category
C.5.1.1.   C.5.1.2.  
Subject Name
NGC 6744
Credits
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA
Release Date
2010-06-04
Lightyears
10,000,000
Redshift
0.002805
Reference Url
/image/wise/WISE2010-019
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
WISE, WISE, WISE, WISE
Instrument
Color Assignment
Blue, Cyan, Green, Red
Band
Infrared, Infrared, Infrared, Infrared
Bandpass
Near-IR, Near-IR, Mid-IR, Mid-IR
Central Wavelength
3400, 4600, 12000, 22000
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
287.4436436, -63.8574312
Reference Dimension
1600, 1600
Reference Pixel
800, 800
Scale
-3.81944439141100e-04, 3.81944439141100e-04
Rotation
188.995949
Coordinate System Projection:
SIN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer
URL
http://wise.astro.ucla.edu
Name
Email
outreach@ssl.berkeley.edu
Telephone
Address
7 Gauss Way
City
Berkeley
State/Province
CA
Postal Code
94720
Country
USA
Rights
Pulic Domain
Publisher
Publisher ID
wise
Resource ID
Resource URL
/image/wise/WISE2010-019
Related Resources
Metadata Date
2018-01-11T02:37:36Z
Metadata Version
1.2
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×
Universescalefull
10,000,000 light years

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