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.

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O zdjęciu

Identyfikator:potw2106a
Typ:Obserwacje
Data publikacji:8 lutego 2021 06:00
Rozmiar:317 x 326 px

O obiekcie

Nazwa:NGC 6902
Typ:Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Spiral
Odległość:130 milion lat świetlnych
Constellation:Sagittarius
Kategoria:Galaxies

Formaty zdjęć

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335,4 KB
Wielki JPEG
50,0 KB

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149,3 KB
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257,6 KB
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277,9 KB
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351,3 KB

Współrzędne

Pozycja (RA):20 24 28.17
Pozycja (Dec):-43° 39' 13.25"
Pole widzenia:1.06 x 1.09 arcminutes
Orientacja:North is 0.1° prawo of vertical

Kolory i filtry

PasmoDługość faliTeleskop
Optyczny
B
438 nmVery Large Telescope
MUSE
Optyczny
g
475 nmVery Large Telescope
MUSE
Optyczny
r
625 nmVery Large Telescope
MUSE
Optyczny
H-alpha
656 nmVery Large Telescope
MUSE
Optyczny
N II
658 nmVery Large Telescope
MUSE