If you happen in the southern hemisphere with binoculars and a good view of the night sky on a dark and clear summer night, you may be able to notice the sculptor galaxy. And if your eyes were the prisms that could distinguish the light into the thousands of colors that cause it, congratulations: After a few hours of staring, you could restore the latest image of one of the closest neighbors to the Galaxy of our Milky Way.
This is not just another stunning picture of a nearby galaxy. Since this reveals the type of light from every place of the galaxy, this sculptor’s galaxy image is a treasure trove of information that astronomers around the world cannot wait to choose.
As a doctor of astronomy. A student at the Ohio State University, I (Rebecca) I am one of the happy people who can look at this image every day, along with my Adam, who has discovered the meaning for the beauty that everyone can appreciate.
To create an image
The sculptor’s galaxy is 11 million light -years from the Milky Way. It may look endless, but it actually makes sculptors one of the closest galaxies to the Earth.
For this reason, the sculptor was the main purpose of many observations. 2022 The international team of scientists watched sculptors with a multifaceted spectroscopic researcher Muse, a very large telescope of the European South Observatory in Chile, and publicly published this data this June.
Many astronomical observations produce either a single color of light, such as red or blue, or a spectrum, which from all galaxies flows light into many different colors.
Muse, conveniently, makes both a spectrum in every place he watches. One observation creates thousands of images of thousands of colors, each traced to critical components that make up the galaxy: stars, dust and gas.
It may seem just one picture, but this sculptor image is actually more than 100 individual observations and 8 million individual spectra, carefully stitched to reveal millions of stars in one harmonious galaxy.
Scientific significance
The light of the sculptor’s star is colored white and the gas consisting of charged particles is red. The highest concentration of both is found in spiral hands. In the very center of the Galaxy, there is a nuclear Starburst: an extreme star formation region blowing from the galaxy material.
There is not even information. Afterwards, the light of dust is emitted, creating a shadow effect called dust strips. Following these dust bands, there is a cold, dense material between the stars. Scientists believe that this dark material is a fuel that will form the next generation of stars.
The complex gas (red) is surrounded by young and massive stars (white) in this group of star formation regions. European South Observatory/VLT/Muse
There is a lot of look at this image, but the topic of my work and the most interesting to me is the gas lit with red. In these star -forming regions, young and massive stars excite the gas around them that glow with a specific color to reveal chemical makeup and physical gas conditions.
This image shows one of the first times when astronomers have received images of thousands of stars in regions at this impressive level of detail. Our team research component uses Muse data to understand how these regions are structured and how they interact with the surrounding galaxy.
By thoroughly combining all this information, astronomers can use this image to learn more about the formation of stars and evolution throughout the universe.
This article has been published from a conversation, non -profit, independent news organizations that provide you with facts and reliable analysis to help you give meaning to our complex world. It was written by: Rebecca McClain, Ohio State University and Adam Leroy, Ohio State University
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Rebecca McClain receives funding from the National Science Fund.
Adam Leroy receives funding from the NASA/Space Telescope Institute of Science, which supports the NGC 253 survey related to research.