The galactic glory of NGC 2280

This new image of the galaxy NGC 2280 shows the extent of its massive spiral arms that reach far into the surrounding space. These star-filled tentacles taper off into wispy blue clouds of illuminated and glowing gas well away from the central, bright bulge of the galaxy. Found towards the constellation of Canis Major (the Greater Dog), NGC 2280 is thought to be similar in shape to our own Milky Way galaxy.

NGC 2280 whirls in the cosmos about 75 million light-years from us; this snapshot therefore shows the galaxy as it appeared when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth.

The very bright stars that sparkle like diamonds in the image, as well as the many other stars of various colours, are all in the foreground of our view, as they lie much closer to us than NGC 2280.

The image was captured with the ESO Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera (EFOSC2) through three filters (B, V, R). EFOSC2 was attached to the 3.6-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. EFOSC2 has a field of view of 4.1 x 4.1 arcminutes.

Crédit:

ESO

À propos de l'image

Identification:ngc2280-potw
Type:Observation
Date de publication:3 décembre 2009 23:18
Taille:1985 x 1990 px

À propos de l'objet

Nom:Galaxy, NGC 2280
Type:Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Spiral
Distance:75 million années lumière
Constellation:Canis Major
Catégorie:Galaxies

Image Formats

Grand JPEG
1,2 Mio
JPEG taille écran
178,2 Kio

Fonds d'écran

1024x768
187,6 Kio
1280x1024
341,7 Kio
1600x1200
571,9 Kio
1920x1200
766,1 Kio
2048x1536
873,2 Kio

Coordinates

Position (RA):6 44 49.40
Position (Dec):-27° 38' 21.72"
Field of view:5.22 x 5.23 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 1.2° right of vertical

Couleurs & filtres

DomaineLongueur d'ondeTélescope
Visible
B
440 nmESO 3.6-metre telescope
EFOSC2
Visible
V
547 nmESO 3.6-metre telescope
EFOSC2
Visible
R
643 nmESO 3.6-metre telescope
EFOSC2