Provided by Will Dunham
Washington (Reuters) -Sculptor Galaxy is similar in many ways to our bird trail. It is about the same size and mass with a similar spiral structure. However, although it is impossible to get a full image on the bird road from the point of the Earth because we are inside the galaxy, the sculptor is well positioned well.
This is exactly what astronomers did, releasing a particularly detailed image of a sculptor galaxy received on Wednesday with 50 hours of observation using one of the world’s largest telescopes, a very large telescope in the European Southern Observatory in Chile.
The image shows a sculptor, also known as the NGC 253, about 4,000 different colors, each corresponding to the specific wavelength of the optical spectrum.
Because the various components of the galaxy in the spectrum emit light differently, observations provide unprecedented information about the internal work of the entire galaxy, from star formation to interseise gas on large scales. Conventional images of astronomy offer only a few colors that provide less information.
Researchers used a multi -stage spectroscopic researcher or Muse, an instrument.
“The NGC 253 is close enough to watch it in detail with Muse, but we can still see all the galaxies in one area of sight,” said Astronomas Enrico Congiu, author of the European Southern Observatory Santjage, published by Astronomy & Astronomy & Astronomy & Astronomy & Astronomy & Astronomy & Astronomy & Astronomy & Astronomy & Astronomy the author.
“On the bird’s path, we can achieve extremely high resolution, but we lack a global approach because we are inside it. For further galaxies, we can get a global approach, but not a great detail. This is why the NGC 253 is such a perfect target: it acts as a bridge between ultrasound and large Birds and large -scale research.
The sculptor is about 11 million light -years from the ground, making it one of the closest major galaxies to the Milky Way. The year of light is a distance of distance per year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km).
Like the milk path, it is a caught spiral galaxy, which means it has an elongated structure extending from its nucleus and the spiral hands extends from the ends of the rod. Its diameter of about 88,000 light -years is similar to Philky Way, like its entire mass. One main difference is the speed of the sculptor’s new star formation, which is believed to be two or three times the Milky Way.
Almost 30% of this star formations take place near the galaxy core, known as the Starburst region, as revealed in the colorful amount of emissions shown in the new picture.
The observations provided information on various properties such as the motion, age and chemical composition of the stars, and the movement of interstellar gas, an important component of any galaxy.
“Because the light of the stars is usually blue, if the stars are young or reder, if the stars are old with thousands of colors, you can learn a lot about what stars and star populations exist in a galaxy,” said the astronomer Kathryn Kreckel of Heidelberg University in Germany.
“Similarly to gas, it glows with specific bright emission lines in very specific colors and tells about different elements of gas in the gas and what makes it shine,” Kreckel said.
The initial investigation, published from observations, includes planets, which are shining clouds of gas and dust, which are sent by certain dying stars. Despite their name, they have nothing to do with the planets. These farms can help astronomers measure the exact distances of long -distance galaxies.
Researchers marveled at the scientific and aesthetic value of the new sculptor’s attitude.
“For me personally, these images look amazing,” Congiu said. “What surprises me the most is that every time I look at them, I notice something new – another splash, an unexpected splash or a subtle structure, a hint of incredible physics for all this.”
(Will Dunham’s message, edited by Rosalba O’Brien)