VLT Captures Most Detailed Image Ever of NGC 253
Astronomers using the instrument of the Multiple spectroscopic explorer (Muse) on the very large ESO telescope (VLT) observed the Galaxy NGC 253 of Starburst (star formation) active in thousands of colors simultaneously.
This image Vlt / Muse shows a detailed image of a thousand colors of NGC 253. Image credit: ESO / Congiu and al.
NGC 253 is located at around 11.5 million light years in the sculptor constellation.
Otherwise known as Silver Coin, Silver Dollar Galaxy or Sculptor Galaxy, the Galaxy was discovered on September 23, 1783 by Caroline Herschel (Sister of William Herschel).
The galaxy is the brightest member of the Galaxies sculptor group.
It is considered a Starburst galaxy, where the stars are formed and exploded at an unusually high rate.
“NGC 253 is one of the massive stars formation of stars training closest to the Milky Way,” said astronomer Eso Enrico Coniu and his colleagues.
“It is also one of the largest galaxies in the sky, with an apparent size of 42 x 12 Arcmin2. “”
“With its prominent stellar bar, its well -defined spiral arms and its stars formation spread over the disc, NGC 253 represents an archetypal example near a main sequence spiral galaxy.”
To create the new image of the galaxy, astronomers observed it for more than 50 hours with the Muse on VLT instrument.
They had to assemble more than 100 exhibitions to cover an area of the galaxy of approximately 65,000 light years wide.
“We can zoom in to study the individual regions where the stars are formed at almost the scale of individual stars, but we can also zoom in to study the galaxy as a whole,” said Dr. Kathryn Kreckel, astronomer of Heidelberg University.
In their first analysis of the data, the researchers discovered around 500 planetary nebulae, the gas and dust regions rejected from sunny sun -shaped stars, in NGC 253.
“Beyond our galactic district, we generally process less than 100 detections per galaxy,” said Fabian Scheuermann, doctoral student at Heidelberg University.
“Due to the properties of planetary nebulae, they can be used as a distance markers to their host galaxies.”
“Finding the planetary nebulae allows us to check the distance from the galaxy – critical information on which other studies in the galaxy depend,” said Ohio State University professor Adam Leroy.
“Future projects using the card will explore how gas flows, modifies its composition and forms stars in all this galaxy.”
“How such small processes can have such a big impact on a galaxy whose total size is thousands of times greater is always a mystery,” said Dr. Congiu.
The results will be published in the journal Astronomy and astrophysics.
_____
E. Conciu and al. 2025. The muse view of the sculptor galaxy: survey presentation and the brightness function of planetary nebulae. A&Ain press;
