The star cluster Terzan 5

Peering through the thick dust clouds of our galaxy's central parts (the "bulge") with an amazing amount of detail, a team of astronomers has revealed an unusual mix of stars in the stellar grouping known as Terzan 5. Never observed anywhere in the bulge before, this peculiar cocktail of stars suggests that Terzan 5 is in fact one of the bulge's primordial building blocks, most likely the relic of a dwarf galaxy that merged with the Milky Way during its very early days.

This near-infrared image was obtained with the Multi-conjugate Adaptive Optics Demonstrator (MAD) instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope. Observations in two bands (J and K) were combined. The field of view is 40 arcseconds across.

Créditos:

ESO/F. Ferraro

Sobre a imagem

Id:eso0945a
Tipo:Observação
Data de divulgação:25 de Novembro de 2009 às 12:00
Notícias relacionadas:eso0945
Tamanho:1355 x 1373 px

Sobre o objeto

Nome:Terzan 5
Tipo:Milky Way : Star : Grouping : Cluster
Distância:25000 anos-luz
Constellation:Sagittarius
Categoria:Star Clusters

Formatos de imagens

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Coordenadas

Position (RA):17 48 4.43
Position (Dec):-24° 46' 48.24"
Field of view:0.63 x 0.64 arcminutes
Orientação:O norte está a 179.8° à direita da vertical