The starburst galaxy NGC 908

NGC 908, located 65 million light-years towards the constellation of Cetus (the Whale). This spiral galaxy, discovered in 1786 by William Herschel, is a so-called starburst galaxy, that is, a galaxy undergoing a phase where it spawns stars at a frantic rate. Clusters of young and massive stars can be seen in the spiral arms. Two supernovae, the explosions of massive stars, have been recorded in the near past: one in 1994 and another in May of this year. The galaxy, which is about 75 000 light-years long, also clearly presents uneven and thick spiral arms, the one on the left appearing to go upwards, forming a kind of ribbon. These properties indicate that NGC 908 most probably suffered a close encounter with another galaxy, even though none is visible at present.Data obtained with FORS2 on ESO's Very Large Telescope in the night of 13 to 14 August 2000, using images through B, V, and R filters, for a total exposure time of 4 minutes only. North is up and East is to the left. The data were extracted from the ESO Science Archive and further processed by Henri Boffin (ESO).

Crédit:

ESO

À propos de l'image

Identification:eso0627a
Type:Observation
Date de publication:26 juillet 2006
Communiqués de presse en rapport:eso0627
Taille:1944 x 1695 px

À propos de l'objet

Nom:NGC 908
Type:Local Universe : Galaxy : Activity : Starburst
Distance:60 million années lumière
Constellation:Cetus
Catégorie:Galaxies

Formats des images

Grand JPEG
1,5 Mio
JPEG taille écran
269,3 Kio

Fonds d'écran

1024x768
353,1 Kio
1280x1024
658,2 Kio
1600x1200
1,0 Mio
1920x1200
1,3 Mio
2048x1536
1,8 Mio

Coordinates

Position (RA):2 23 4.59
Position (Dec):-21° 14' 2.26"
Field of view:6.31 x 5.50 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 0.1° right of vertical

Couleurs & filtres

DomaineLongueur d'ondeTélescope
Visible
B
440 nmVery Large Telescope
FORS2
Visible
V
557 nmVery Large Telescope
FORS2
Visible
R
655 nmVery Large Telescope
FORS2