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.

Källa:

ESO/F. Ferraro

Om bilden

ID:eso0945a
Typ:Observation
Publiceringsdatum:25 november 2009 12:00
Relaterade pressmeddelanden:eso0945
Storlek:1355 x 1373 px

Om objektet

Namn:Terzan 5
Typ:Milky Way : Star : Grouping : Cluster
Avstånd:25000 ljusår
Constellation:Sagittarius
Kategori:Star Clusters

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Koordinater

Position (RA):17 48 4.43
Position (Dec):-24° 46' 48.24"
Field of view:0.63 x 0.64 arcminutes
Orientering:Nord är 179.8° höger om lodrätt