The Sculptor Galaxy, NGC 253

Noirlab_noao-ngc253_1024

noirlab_noao-ngc253 September 28th, 2006

Credit: T.A. Rector/University of Alaska Anchorage, T. Abbott and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/

This image of spiral galaxy NGC253 was taken with the National Science Foundation’s Blanco 4-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. NGC253 is the brightest member of the Sculptor group of galaxies, which is grouped around the south galactic pole (and therefore is sometimes named “South Polar Group”). The Sculptor group may be the next closest group of galaxies beyond our Local Group, located about 8 million light-years from Earth. NGC253 is considered a starburst galaxy, where stars form and explode at an unusually high rate. NGC253 is one of the brightest galaxies beyond the Local Group; it is also referred to as the Sculptor Galaxy NGC253 was also one of the major discoveries of Caroline Herschel, the sister of William Herschel, who discovered the object on September 23, 1783.

Provider: NOIRLab

Image Source: https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noao-ngc253/

Curator: NSF's NOIRLab, Tucson, AZ, USA

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
NGC 253 Sculptor Galaxy
Noirlab_noao-ngc253_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 0h 47m 25.9s
DEC = -25° 23’ 11.3”
Orientation
North is 140.0° CW
Field of View
25.4 x 18.3 arcminutes
Constellation
Sculptor

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Blanco-4m (Mosaic II) Optical (Ha) 657.0 nm
Orange Blanco-4m (Mosaic II) Optical (I) 820.0 nm
Green Blanco-4m (Mosaic II) Optical (V) 538.0 nm
Blue Blanco-4m (Mosaic II) Optical (B) 438.0 nm
None
Spectrum_base
Red
Orange
Green
Blue
Noirlab_noao-ngc253_1280
×
ID
noao-ngc253
Subject Category
Subject Name
NGC 253, Sculptor Galaxy
Credits
T.A. Rector/University of Alaska Anchorage, T. Abbott and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/
Release Date
2006-09-28T12:44:24
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noao-ngc253/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
None
Facility
Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope, Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope, Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope, Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope
Instrument
Mosaic II, Mosaic II, Mosaic II, Mosaic II
Color Assignment
Red, Orange, Green, Blue
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
Ha, I, V, B
Central Wavelength
657, 820, 538, 438
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
None, None, None, None
Notes
N
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
11.85794033, -25.38648291
Reference Dimension
2800.0, 2016.0
Reference Pixel
878.259964, 1420.076878
Scale
-1.51E-04, 1.51E-04
Rotation
-139.9914402
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
None
Creator (Curator)
NSF's NOIRLab
URL
https://noirlab.edu
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
950 North Cherry Ave.
City
Tucson
State/Province
AZ
Postal Code
85719
Country
USA
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
NSF's NOIRLab
Publisher ID
noirlab
Resource ID
noao-ngc253
Metadata Date
2022-03-07T07:46:16.476945
Metadata Version
1.1
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×

There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

Providers | Sign In