Stars Form in Silence

Eso_potw1930a_1024

eso_potw1930a July 29th, 2019

Credit: ESO/SPECULOOS Team/E. Jehin

This spectacular portrait of the Centaurus A galaxy was captured under clear skies by the newest operational ESO observatory, SPECULOOS (Search for habitable Planets EClipsing ULtra-cOOl Stars), located at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. The state of the art observatory is fitted an array of four one-metre telescopes, each named after one of the four Galilean moons. The SPECULOOS telescopes are neighbours of two of ESO’s most powerful telescopes, the Very Large Telescope (VLT) and VISTA. SPECULOOS is set to survey up to ten times more red dwarf stars than the TRAPPIST telescope (located at ESO La Silla Observatory) currently does. It is predicted statistically that it will then find at least twelve solar systems of a similar size to the now famous TRAPPIST-1 system. The Centaurus A galaxy (NGC 5128)  is one of the brightest galaxies in the southern hemisphere night sky, located in the constellation of Centaurus. It was discovered in 1826 by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop at the former Parramata Observatory. At a distance of 11 million light-years, it is the closest active galactic nucleus (AGN) to us. Astronomers theorise that what was originally an elliptical galaxy collided with a relatively smaller spiral shaped galaxy, giving it the peculiar shape we see now. NGC 5128 has an impressive collection of stars. From this image, you can observe red/pink star-forming regions on the bottom left of the image and young blue star clusters on the top right of the image; with dust lanes captured in stunning detail. Towards the centre of the galaxy, leftover cosmic dust is slowly being eaten by the supermassive black hole, which has a mass of roughly 100 million solar masses. This accretion of matter results in powerful radio waves being emitted from the AGN.  This image was taken as one of the first light images from the SPECULOOS telescopes. First light images are the very first images that are taken by a telescope when it is being commissioned for science operation to guarantee that it is in good working order and that the images are clear.

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1930a/

Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, None, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Centaurus A
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Lenticular
Eso_potw1930a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 13h 25m 27.9s
DEC = -43° 1’ 6.8”
Orientation
North is 0.2° CW
Field of View
11.8 x 11.7 arcminutes
Constellation
Centaurus

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Luminosity SPECULOOS Southern Observatory (None) Optical (None) -
Eso_potw1930a_1280
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ID
potw1930a
Subject Category
C.5.1.3  
Subject Name
Centaurus A
Credits
ESO/SPECULOOS Team/E. Jehin
Release Date
2019-07-29T06:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1930a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
SPECULOOS Southern Observatory
Instrument
None
Color Assignment
Luminosity
Band
Optical
Bandpass
None
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
None
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
201.366155918, -43.0185574441
Reference Dimension
2045.0, 2040.0
Reference Pixel
1022.5, 1020.0
Scale
-9.59795860758e-05, 9.59795860758e-05
Rotation
-0.23999999999999996
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
None
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
European Southern Observatory
Publisher ID
eso
Resource ID
potw1930a
Metadata Date
2018-12-04T15:12:54+01:00
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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