A supernova duet in NGC 1448

Portrayed in this beautiful image is the spiral galaxy NGC 1448, with a prominent disc of young and very bright stars surrounding its small, shining core. Located about 60 million light-years away from the Sun, this galaxy has recently been a prolific factory of supernovae, the dramatic explosions that mark the death of stars : after a first one observed in this galaxy in 1983, two more have been discovered during the past decade.

Visible as a red dot inside the disc, in the upper right part of the image, is the supernova observed in 2003 (SN 2003hn), whereas another one, detected in 2001 (SN 2001el), can be noticed as a tiny blue dot in the central part of the image, just below the galaxy’s core. If captured at the peak of the explosion, a supernova might be as bright as the whole galaxy that hosts it.

This image was 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 exposures taken through three filters (B, V, R) on several occasions, between July 2002 and the end of November 2003. The field of view is 7 arcminutes.

Crédit:

ESO

À propos de l'image

Identification:ngc1448-potw
Type:Observation
Date de publication:3 décembre 2009 23:18
Taille:2038 x 2005 px

À propos de l'objet

Nom:NGC 1448
Type:Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Spiral
Distance:60 million années lumière
Constellation:Horologium
Catégorie:Galaxies
Stars

Image Formats

Grand JPEG
897,6 Kio
JPEG taille écran
178,6 Kio

Fonds d'écran

1024x768
184,3 Kio
1280x1024
294,2 Kio
1600x1200
434,5 Kio
1920x1200
537,1 Kio
2048x1536
667,0 Kio

Coordinates

Position (RA):3 44 31.80
Position (Dec):-44° 38' 23.40"
Field of view:6.80 x 6.69 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 90.0° right of vertical

Couleurs & filtres

DomaineTélescope
Visible
B
Very Large Telescope
FORS2
Visible
V
Very Large Telescope
FORS2
Visible
R
Very Large Telescope
FORS2