Darth Vader’s galaxy, NGC 936

Glowing in the cosmos at a distance of about 50 million light-years away, the galaxy NGC 936 bears a striking resemblance to the Twin Ion Engine (TIE) starfighters used by the evil Dark Lord Darth Vader and his crew in the epic motion picture Star Wars. The galaxy’s shiny bulge and a bar-like structure crossing it bring to mind the central engine and cockpit of the spacecraft; while a ring of stars surrounding the galactic core completes the parallel, corresponding to the wings of the TIE fighters that are equipped with solar panels.

This galaxy harbours exclusively old stars and shows no sign of any recent star formation. Bars such as that observed in NGC 936 are common features of galaxies; however, this one is significantly more marked than average. Although a perfect symbol for the dark side of the “Force”, it is still debatable whether this galaxy is dominated, like most others, by a large amount of dark matter.

This image has been obtained using the FORS instrument mounted on one of the 8.2-metre telescopes of ESO’s Very Large Telescope on top of Cerro Paranal, Chile. It combines data acquired through four wide-band filters (B, V, R, I). The field of view is about 7 arcminutes.

Crédit:

ESO

À propos de l'image

Identification:potw1009a
Type:Observation
Date de publication:1 mars 2010 10:00
Taille:2018 x 2018 px

À propos de l'objet

Nom:NGC 936
Type:Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Barred
Distance:50 million années lumière
Constellation:Cetus
Catégorie:Galaxies

Formats des images

Grand JPEG
676,9 Kio
JPEG taille écran
102,1 Kio

Zoomable


Fonds d'écran

1024x768
105,8 Kio
1280x1024
185,5 Kio
1600x1200
301,9 Kio
1920x1200
407,8 Kio
2048x1536
496,2 Kio

Coordinates

Position (RA):2 27 39.75
Position (Dec):-1° 9' 36.68"
Field of view:6.73 x 6.73 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 1.6° right of vertical

Couleurs & filtres

DomaineTélescope
Visible
B
Very Large Telescope
FORS1
Visible
V
Very Large Telescope
FORS1
Visible
R
Very Large Telescope
FORS1
Infrarouge
I
Very Large Telescope
FORS1