Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




STELLAR CHEMISTRY
A galaxy blooming with new stars
by Staff Writers
Paris (ESO) Dec 28, 2011


The VLT Survey Telescope has captured in sharp detail the beauty of the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 253. This new portrait is probably the best wide-field view of this object and its surroundings ever taken. It demonstrates that the VST, the newest telescope at ESO's Paranal Observatory, provides broad views of the sky while also offering impressive image quality. Luminous regions of ongoing star formation are spread throughout NGC 253, which is pumping out new stars at a furious pace. The data were processed using the VST-Tube system developed by A. Grado and collaborators at the INAF-Capodimonte Observatory. Credit: ESO/INAF-VST Acknowledgement: A. Grado/L. Limatola/INAF-Capodimonte Observatory.

The VLT Survey Telescope (VST) has captured the beauty of the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 253. The new portrait is probably the most detailed wide-field view of this object and its surroundings ever taken. It demonstrates that the VST, the newest telescope at ESO's Paranal Observatory, provides broad views of the sky while also offering impressive image sharpness.

NGC 253 gleams about eleven and a half million light-years away in the southern constellation of Sculptor. It is often just called the Sculptor Galaxy, although other descriptive names include the Silver Coin or Silver Dollar Galaxy.

It is easy to get a good look at NGC 253 through binoculars as it is one of the brightest galaxies in the sky after the Milky Way's closest, big galactic neighbour, the Andromeda Galaxy.

Astronomers have noted the widespread active star formation in NGC 253 and labelled it a "starburst" galaxy. The many bright clumps dotting the galaxy are stellar nurseries where hot young stars have just ignited.

The radiation streaming from these giant blue-white babies makes the surrounding hydrogen gas clouds glow brightly (green in this image).

This nearby spiral galaxy was discovered by the German-British astronomer Caroline Herschel, the sister of the famed astronomer William Herschel, as she searched for comets in 1783. The Herschels would have been delighted by the crisp, richly detailed view of NGC 253 that the VST can provide.

This latest image of NGC 253 was taken during VST's science verification phase - when the telescope's scientific performance is assessed before it enters operations. The VST data are being combined with infrared images from VISTA (eso0949) to identify the younger generations of stars in NGC 253. This picture is more than 12 000 pixels across and the superb sky conditions at ESO's Paranal Observatory, combined with the fine telescope optics, result in sharp star images over the entire image.

The VST is a 2.6-metre wide-field survey telescope with a one-degree field of view - twice as broad as the full Moon. The VST programme is a joint venture between the INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy and ESO (eso1119).

The 268-megapixel camera OmegaCAM at its heart is designed to map the sky both quickly and with very fine image quality. VST is the largest telescope in the world designed to exclusively survey the sky in visible light, complementing ESO's VISTA infrared survey telescope, also located at Paranal.

Zooming into this new picture not only allows a very detailed inspection of the star-forming spiral arms of the galaxy to be made, but also reveals a very rich tapestry of much more distant galaxies far beyond NGC 253.

.


Related Links
ESO
Stellar Chemistry, The Universe And All Within It






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Some nearby young stars may be much older than previously thought
Rochester NY (SPX) Dec 27, 2011
Low in the south in the summer sky shines the constellation Scorpius and the bright, red supergiant star Antares. Many of the brightest stars in Scorpius, and hundreds of its fainter stars, are among the youngest stars found near the earth, and a new analysis of them may result in a rethinking of both their ages and the ages of other groups of stars. New research by astrophysicists from th ... read more


STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Peres promotes Israeli moon probe

Hundreds of NASA's moon rocks missing: audit

Schafer Corp Signs Licensing Agreement with MoonDust Technologies

Russia wants to focus on Moon if Mars mission fails

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Arvidson To Be Participating Scientist on New Mars Rover

Wheel Passes Checkup After Stalled Drive

Meteorite Shock Waves Trigger Dust Avalanches on Mars

Opportunity at One of its Two Winter Spots

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
NASA Conducts Orion Parachute Testing for Orbital Test Flight

Astrophysicist John Grunsfeld to Head NASA Science Directorate

A Brighter Future for Spaceflight

Goddard Scientists Selected as Participating Scientists in Mars Lab and Cassini Missions

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Tiangong-1 orbiter starts planned cabin checks against toxic gas

China celebrates success of space docking mission

Two and a Half Men for Shenzhou

China honors its 'father' of space efforts

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
New crew arrives at international space station

NASA 'Smart SPHERES' Tested on ISS

Russia sends multinational crew to ISS

As Soyuz Rolls ISS Crew Work On Science

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Soyuz poised for Globalstar second-generation satellite launch at Baikonur

Launch of Russian Proton-M carrier rocket postponed

Russian satellite crashes into Siberia after launch

Next ESA Astronaut Ready For Launch As Soyuz Rolls Out

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
New Exo planets raise questions about the evolution of stars

Astronomers discover deep-fried planets

Two new Earth-sized exoplanets discovered

NASA Discovers First Earth-Size Planets Beyond Our Solar System

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Owner of house hit by satellite fixes roof himself amid compensation snag

Vogue's vast archives make online leap from paper

$25 computer nears production

China seeks steady rare earths exports in 2012




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement