Zooming in on Star Formation
Discovered in the year 1836 by John Herschel, NGC 6902 is a beautiful spiral galaxy located more than 130 million light-years away in the constellation of Sagittarius, the Archer. This image was taken with MUSE, the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer instrument attached to one of the four 8.2-metre telescopes that make up the VLT, and shows the galaxy from a unique perspective. A zoom in towards the galaxy’s centre, the image shows a nuclear ring where the orange glow of intense star formation is visible.
Inside this ring lies a faint and small bar of stars. Researchers found that stars within it are distributed differently depending on their age, with younger stars aligned along the bar and older stars more dispersed. These locations of the young and old stars within the central bar of NGC 6902 confirm predictions made years earlier from simulations and models. This is the first time these predictions of galactic structure were confirmed with observations thanks to the incredible spatial resolution of the MUSE instrument.
Припис:ESO/TIMER survey
Про зображення
ID: | potw2106a |
Тип: | Спостереження |
Дата релізу [date]: | 08 лютого 2021 р. 06:00 |
Розмір: | 317 x 326 px |
Про об’єкт
Назва: | NGC 6902 |
Тип: | Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Spiral |
Відстань: | 130 мільйонів світлових років |
Constellation: | Sagittarius |
Категорія: | Galaxies |
Шпалери
Координати
Position (RA): | 20 24 28.17 |
Position (Dec): | -43° 39' 13.25" |
Field of view: | 1.06 x 1.09 arcminutes |
Орієнтація: | Північ на 0.1° права від вертикалі |
Кольори та фільтри
Діапазон | Довжина хвилі | Телескоп |
---|---|---|
Оптичний B | 438 nm | Very Large Telescope MUSE |
Оптичний g | 475 nm | Very Large Telescope MUSE |
Оптичний r | 625 nm | Very Large Telescope MUSE |
Оптичний H-alpha | 656 nm | Very Large Telescope MUSE |
Оптичний N II | 658 nm | Very Large Telescope MUSE |