Larger field around NGC 1313
Larger region of the sky around the starburst galaxy NGC 1313 showing the larger scale disturbance of the galaxy. The galaxy shows some large deformations in the lower right part of the image, while diffuse matter is also present at the top of the image. All this signals a very tormented past...
Emission of the galaxy BzK-15504
H-alpha line emission of the galaxy BzK-15504, at cosmological redshift of 2.38, corresponding to a time of 3 billion years after the Big Bang. The colours show whether the ionised gas is moving away from us (red), toward us (blue) or is stationary (green), relative to the overall rest frame of...
The field around SN2006aj
Region of the sky around the newly discovered X-ray flash/Supernova SN2006aj. The left image comes from the DSS2 survey and is taken in the red filter. The image was taken prior to the explosion and shows at the position of the flash (circle) the tiny host galaxy. The right image shows the VLT...
Maps of BzK-15504
SINFONI maps of H-alphaline emission in BzK-15504, separated in 65 km/s bins of Doppler velocity (marked at the bottom left of each image) and centred on the systemic cosmological redshift of the galaxy (z=2.38). North is up and East is to the left, and a bar marks the angular scale of 0.5"....
The spectacular spiral galaxy ESO 269-G57
Located about 155 million light-years away towards the southern constellation Centaurus (the Centaur), ESO 269-G57 is a spectacular spiral galaxy of symmetrical shape that belongs to a well-known cluster of galaxies seen in this direction. An inner 'ring', of several tightly wound spiral arms,...
The irregular galaxy NGC 1427A
Colour composite image of NGC 1427A, based on observations collected with FORS1 in Service mode for Andreas Reisenegger and his colleagues in November 2002 and January 2003. A very tenuous galaxy is also visible in the upper right corner. For the blue, green and red channels the U, V and...
The starburst galaxy NGC 908
NGC 908, located 65 million light-years towards the constellation of Cetus (the Whale). This spiral galaxy, discovered in 1786 by William Herschel, is a so-called starburst galaxy, that is, a galaxy undergoing a phase where it spawns stars at a frantic rate. Clusters of young and massive stars...
Faint red galaxy in the UKIDSS Ultra-Deep Survey
Zooming into one tiny section of the UKIDSS Ultra-Deep Survey, revealing a faint red galaxy which is believed to be at a distance of 12 billion light years. The full survey covers a region approximately four times the area of the full moon. The colour image was produced by combining infrared...
The hooked galaxy and its companion
Composite image based on data acquired with the FORS1 multi-mode instrument in April and May 2006 for the European Supernova Collaboration. The observations were made in four different filters (B, V, R, and I) that were combined to make a colour image. The field of view covers 5.6 x 8.3 arcmin....
The hooked galaxy and its companion - annotated image
Annotated version of ESO Press Photo eso0622. The two interacting galaxies and the location of SN 2005cf are indicated. When the supernova exploded, more than a year ago, it was almost as bright as its host galaxy. One year later, it is much dimmer and can only be studied with the largest...
Galaxy ESO 570-19 and variable star UW Crateris
Part of the Deep 3 Deep Public Survey field, showing the brightest galaxy in the field ESO 570-19 (upper left) and the brightest star UW Crateris. This red giant (upper right) is a variable star that is about 8 times fainter than what the unaided eye can see. An 'S'-shaped ensemble of galaxies...
Mapping distant galaxies
Three examples of results obtained with GIRAFFE on distant galaxies. In the first column, images of galaxies as obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope are shown. The second column is the velocity field as deduced from GIRAFFE observations : the reddish parts show material moving away from us...
Twin explosions in gigantic dusty potato crisp
The beautiful edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 3190 with tightly wound arms and a warped shape that makes it resemble a gigantic potato crisp, as seen by ESO's Very Large Telescope. Supernova SN 2002bo is found in between the 'V' of the dust lanes in the south-western part of NGC 3190. SN 2002cv is...
Spiral galaxy Messier 100
Composite based on five images taken with FORS1 on Kueyen (VLT) by Dominique Naef, Eric Depagne and Chris Lidman (ESO). The images were taken through different filters: U, V, R, I, and a narrow-band filter centred on the H-alpha line. The exposure time is 60 seconds in the V, R and I filters, 3...
Robert's Quartet
Robert's Quartet is a family of four very different galaxies, located at a distance of about 160 million light-years, close to the centre of the southern constellation of the Phoenix. Its members are NGC 87, NGC 88, NGC 89 and NGC 92, discovered by John Herschel in the 1830s. NGC 87 (upper...
NGC 92 in H-alpha
The largest member of the galaxy group known as Robert''s Quartet is NGC 92, a spiral Sa galaxy with an unusual appearance. One of its arms, about 100,000 light-years long, has been distorted by interactions and contains a large quantity of dust. Using this H-alpha image obtained with FORS2 on...
The centre of the active galaxy NGC 1097
Colour-composite image of the central 5,500 light-years wide region of the spiral galaxy NGC 1097, obtained with the NACO adaptive optics on the VLT. More than 300 star forming regions - white spots in the image - are distributed along a ring of dust and gas in the image. At the centre of the...
First visible light from GRB 050709
First image in the visible (more precisely here, in the so-called R-band) of a short gamma-ray burst. The image was taken with the Danish 1.5-m telescope and the DFOSC camera at La Silla on 11 July 2005. It shows the gamma-ray burst to be situated on the edge of a low-redshift galaxy.
Filamentary structures in NGC 1097
The left image shows the same central region as imaged in ESO Press Photo eso0534a but this time as seen in the J-Ks colour. It clearly shows the nucleus, the central spiral arms extending up to 1,300 light-years from the centre, and the star-forming ring. The right image shows the same but...
The colossal cosmic eye NGC 1350
Colour-composite of the spiral galaxy NGC 1350 taken with FORS2 at the ESO Very Large Telescope. The image, totalling 16 minutes of observations, clearly reveals the delicate structures in this gigantic "eye" as well as many background galaxies.
Variability of GRB 050709
Two images taken with the 1.5-m telescope at La Silla of the short gamma-ray burst afterglow. The panel (a) is the image taken on July 11, while panel (b) shows the same field one week later, on July 18. Only the galaxy is now visible: the afterglow has faded away in the time span of one week....
Two quasars with their host galaxy
Two examples of quasars from the sample studied by the astronomers, where the host galaxy is obvious. In each case, the quasar is the bright central spot. The host of HE1239-2426 (left), a z=0.082 quasar, displays large spiral arms, while the host of HE1503+0228 (right), having a redshift of...
Supernova 2005dh and spiral galaxy NGC 1559
Colour-composite image of the spiral galaxy NGC 1559 in the Reticulum constellation, obtained with the multi-mode FORS1 instrument on ESO's 8.2m VLT. The supernova, SN 2005df, is visible as the bright star just above the galaxy. Many background galaxies can also be seen in this image.
Spiral galaxy NGC 4565
The first galaxy pictured here is NGC 4565, which for obvious reasons is also called the Needle Galaxy. First spotted in 1785 by Uranus' discoverer, Sir William Herschel (1738-1822), this is one of the most famous example of an edge-on spiral galaxy and is located some 30 million light-years...
Spiral galaxy Messier 83
If our Milky Way were to resemble this one, we certainly would be proud of our home ! The beautiful spiral galaxy Messier 83 [4] is located in the southern constellation Hydra (the Water Snake) and is also known as NGC 5236 and as the Southern Pinwheel galaxy. Its distance is about 15 million...
Observed fields in NGC 300
Location of the three fields in the Sculptor spiral galaxy NGC 300 for which deep imaging in the near-infrared J and K filters was obtained with VLT/ISAAC. The fields contain together 16 Cepheids with periods from 6 to 83 days.
Deep image of a region in Fornax
Composite image taken in two bands (B and R) with VLT/FORS1 of a small portion of the sky (field-of-view 7x7' or 1/15th of the area of the full moon). The faintest object seen in the image has a magnitude 26 ; that is, it is 100 million times fainter than what can be observed with the unaided...
Einstein ring in distant universe
The left image is magnified and centred on the newly discovered Einstein ring. The image quality ("seeing") of the R-band image is exceptional (0.5") and the image reveals the lensing system in stunning details. The central dot is the lens, a quiescent massive galaxy that distort the light...
Magnificent spiral galaxy NGC 7424
Composite colour-coded image of another magnificent spiral galaxy, NGC 7424, at a distance of 40 million light-years. It is based on images obtained with the multi-mode VIMOS instrument on the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) in three different wavelength bands. The image covers 6.5 x 7.2 square...
Spiral galaxy NGC 6118
These are almost-true colour composites based on images made with the multi-mode VIMOS instrument on the 8.2-m Melipal (Unit Telescope 3) of ESO's Very Large Telescope. In each case, exposures were taken in three different wavebands which were associated to a given colour: R-band (centred...
Spiral galaxy NGC 6118 and SN 2004dk
Composite colour-coded image of the "grand design" spiral galaxy NGC 6118, at a distance of 80 million light-years. It is based on images obtained with the multi-mode VIMOS instrument on the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) in three different wavebands. The image covers 6.7 x 5.8 square...
Spiral galaxy NGC 1097
It is an almost-true colour composite based on images made with the multi-mode VIMOS instrument on the 8.2-m Melipal (Unit Telescope 3) of ESO's Very Large Telescope. Exposures were taken in three different wavebands which were associated to a given colour : R-band (centred around 652 nm; red),...
Spiral galaxy NGC 7424 and SN2001ig
These are colour composites based on FORS 2 and VIMOS images taken in the R-band (15 sec), V (60 sec) and B (90 sec). Two composite colour-coded image of a part of NGC 7424. The left image was made from an exposure taken with the FORS 2 instrument on VLT Yepun on June 16, 2002. In this, the...
LMC region near the Tarantula Nebula
Turbulent region around the ring-shaped nebula DEM L 299 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way system. It was produced by combining three monochromatic images obtained in December 2001 with the Wide-Field-Imager (WFI) at the ESO/MPG 2.2-m telescope at the La Silla...
SINFONI observations of the Circinus galaxy
The Circinus galaxy - one of the nearest galaxies with an active centre (AGN) - was observed in the K-band (wavelength 2 µm) using the nucleus to guide the SINFONI AO Module. The seeing was 0.5 arcsec and the width of each slitlet 0.025 arcsec; the total integration time on the galaxy was 40...
SINFONI observations of the young starforming galaxies BX 404/405
The distant galaxy pair BX 404/405, as recorded in the K-band (wavelength 2 µm, centered on the redshifted H-alpha line), without AO-correction because of the lack of a nearby, sufficiently bright "guide" star. The width of each slitlet was 0.25 arcsec and the seeing about 0.6 arcsec. The...
SINFONI observations of NGC 6240
The galaxy merger system NGC 6240 was observed with SINFONI in the K-band (wavelength 2 µm). This object has two nuclei; the image of the southern one is also shown enlarged, together with the corresponding spectrum. The width of each slitlet was 0.025 arcsec and the seeing was 0.8 arcsec. The...
SINFONI Observations of the AGN Galaxy NGC 7469
NGC 7469 was observed in K band (wavelength 2 µm) using the nucleus to guide the adaptive optics. The width of each slitlet was 0.025 arcsec and the seeing was 1.1 arcsec. The total integration time on the galaxy was 70 min "on-source". To the upper left is a K-band image (2 µm) of the central...
Small part of the K20 Field showing the z=1.9 elliptical galaxy
Small region in the K20 field centred on a z=1.9 redshift galaxy. The image is based on frames acquired by the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) on the Hubble Space Telescope in the framework of the GOODS Public HST Treasury Program (P.I. M. Giavalisco, STScI, Baltimore, USA). They show the...
Cluster of galaxies RXCJ1131.9-1955
Very massive galaxy cluster RXCJ1131.9-1955 at redshift z = 0.306 in a very rich galaxy field with two major concentrations. It was originally found by George Abell and designated "Abell 1300". The image was obtained with the ESO/MPG 2.2-m telescope and the WFI camera at La Silla.
Colour composite of the Galactic Centre
Colour composite image of the Galactic Centre at a distance of about 30,000 light-years. It was made by combining images in filters centred at 8.6μm (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon molecular feature - coded blue), 12.8μm ([NeII] - coded green) and 19.5μm (coded red). Each pixel subtends 0.127...
Cluster of galaxies RXCJ0937.9-2020
Nearby galaxy group RXCJ0937.9-2020 at a redshift of z = 0.034. It is dominated by the massive elliptical galaxy seen at the top of the image. The photo covers only the southern part of this group. Such galaxy groups with typical masses of a few 1013 solar masses constitute the smallest objects...
Colour composite of the star forming region G333.6-0.2
Colour composite image of the visually obscured G333.6-0.2 star-forming region at a distance of nearly 10,000 light-years in our Milky Way galaxy. This image was made by combining three digital images of the intensity of the infrared emission at wavelengths of 11.3μm (one of the Polycyclic...
The starburst galaxy He2-10 at 11.3μm
Image at wavelength 11.3 μm of the "nearby" (distance about 30 million light-years) blue compact galaxy He2-10, which is actively forming stars. The scale is 0.127 arcsec per pixel and the full field covers 15 x 15 arcsec with North at the top and East on the left. The total integration time...
Cosmic ballet or devil's mask - galaxy triplet NGC 6769-71 (VLT MELIPAL + VIMOS)
Colour-composite image showing the triplet of galaxies NGC 6769, 6770 and NGC 6771, as observed with the VIMOS instrument on Melipal, one of the four 8.2-m Unit Telescopes of ESO's Very Large Telescope. The images were obtained on the morning of April 1, 2004 during twilight in three different...
The starburst spiral galaxy NGC 1792
Colour composite image of the starburst spiral galaxy NGC 1792 obtained with the FORS1 and FORS2 multi-mode instruments (at VLT MELIPAL and YEPUN, respectively). Its optical appearance of NGC 1792 is quite chaotic, due to the patchy distribution of dust throughout the disc of this galaxy. It is...
NGC 613
This image of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 613 was obtained with the FORS1 and FORS2 multi-mode instruments (at VLT MELIPAL and YEPUN, respectively) on December 16-18, 2001. It is a composite of three exposures in different wavebands, cf. the technical note below. The full-resolution version...
Near-infrared flare from Galactic Centre
Detection of a powerful flare from the centre of the Milky Way galaxy. These and other adaptive optics (AO) images (with resolution 0.040 arcsec in the near-infrared H-band at wavelength 1.65 µm) of the central region of the Milky Way were obtained with the NACO imager on the 8.2-m VLT YEPUN...
A dusty beauty
NGC 3627, also known as Messier 66, i.e. it is the 66th object in the famous catalogue of nebulae by French astronomer Charles Messier (1730 - 1817). It is located in the constellation Leo (The Lion). NGC 3627 is a beautiful spiral with a well-developed central bulge. It also displays...
Newly discovered gravitational lens system RXS J1131-1231
Image of the newly discovered gravitational lens system RXS J1131-1231 recorded by the EFOSC2 instrument on the ESO 3.6-m telescope (left panel). Deconvolution ("image sharpening", right panel) allows a better view of the four star-like components (the four images of the same distant quasar),...
Spectra of the RXS J1131-1231 lensing system
The spectra of two of the star-like images in the gravitational lens system RXS J1131-1231 (labeled A and D in the top panel) are very similar and are therefore from the same object, i.e., the lensed quasar. The emission lines identified in these spectra are typical of a quasar and the redshft...
Centaurus A – Field 2 (halo)
High-resolution, very deep colour image of a field in the South of the Centaurus A galaxy halo. This image was taken in July 1999 through U- and V-band optical filters with the VLT FORS1 multi-mode instrument at the 8.2-m VLT ANTU telescope on Paranal. Note the great variety of object types...
Centaurus A – Field 1 (shell)
Colour composite of "Field 1" (around the jet) in the peculiar galaxy Centaurus A (NGC 5128), based on exposures through three near-infrared filters (the J-, H- and K-bands at wavelengths 1.2, 1.6 and 2.2 µm, respectively) with the ISAAC multi-mode instrument at the 8.2-m VLT ANTU telescope...
Centaurus A – Field 1 (shell)
High-resolution, very deep colour image of a field around the jet in the North-East of the Centaurus A galaxy. This image was taken in July 1999 through U- and V-band optical filters with the VLT FORS1 multi-mode instrument at the 8.2-m VLT ANTU telescope on Paranal. Note the great variety of...
Centaurus A – Field 2 (halo)
Colour composites of "Field 2" in the halo of the peculiar galaxy Centaurus A (NGC 5128), based on exposures through three near-infrared filters (the J-, H- and K-bands at wavelengths 1.2, 1.6 and 2.2 µm, respectively) with the ISAAC multi-mode instrument at the 8.2-m VLT ANTU telescope at...
Spectrum of the extremely distant galaxy z6VDF J022803-041618
A spectroscopic image (between the horizontal arrows) of the very distant galaxy z6VDF J022803-041618, obtained with the multi-mode FORS2 instrument at the 8.2-m VLT YEPUN telescope at the ESO Paranal Observatory. The horizontal axis shows the dispersed light, with wavelengths increasing from...
Centaurus A (NGC 5128)
This is a colour composite photo of the peculiar galaxy Centaurus A (NGC 5128) , obtained with the Wide-Field Imager (WFI) camera at the ESO/MPG 2.2-m telescope on La Silla. It is based on a total of nine 3-min exposures made on March 25, 1999, through different broad-band optical filters...
Spiral galaxy NGC 300
Colour-composite image of the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 300 and the surrounding sky field, obtained in 1999 and 2000 with the Wide-Field Imager (WFI) on the MPG/ESO 2.2-m telescope at the La Silla Observatory.
Bright galaxies in the Virgo cluster
Sky field near some of the brighter galaxies in the Virgo Cluster. This image was obtained in April 2000 with the Wide Field Imager (WFI) at the La Silla Observatory. The large elliptical galaxy at the centre is Messier 84; the elongated image of NGC 4388 (an active spiral galaxy, seen from the...
The centre of the Milky Way
The centre of our Milky Way galaxy is located in the southern constellation Sagittarius (The Archer) and is "only" 26,000 light-years away. On high-resolution images, it is possible to discern thousands of individual stars within the central, one light-year wide region. Using the motions of...
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