Escondida a Plena Vista – la escurridiza Galaxia Enana Carina
Es una de las galaxias más cercanas a la Tierra, pero la Galaxia Enana Carina es tan tenue y difusa que los astrónomos sólo la descubrieron en los años 70. Una galaxia acompañante de la Vía Láctea, esta bola de estrellas comparte rasgos tanto con cúmulos globulares de estrellas como con galaxias mucho más grandes.
Los astrónomos creen que las galaxias enanas esferoidales como la Enana Carina son muy comunes en el Universo, pero son extremadamente difíciles de observar. Su falta de claridad y baja densidad estelar implican que es fácil que uno simplemente vea a través de ellas. En esta imagen, la Enana Carina aparece como varias estrellas tenues esparcidas a través de gran parte del área central de la fotografía. Es difícil distinguir las estrellas de la galaxia enana, estrellas del primer plano dentro de la Vía Láctea e incluso galaxias lejanas que se asoman a través de los resquicios: la Enana Carina es una maestra del camuflaje cósmico.
Las estrellas de la Enana Carina muestran un inusual rango de edades. Parecen haberse formado en una serie de estallidos, con períodos tranquilos que duran varios miles de millones de años entre si. Está ubicada a alrededor de 300.000 años-luz de la Tierra, lo que la ubica más lejos que las Nubes de Magallanes (las galaxias más cercanas a la Vía Láctea), pero significativamente más cerca de nosotros que la Galaxia Andrómeda, la galaxia espiral más cercana.
Así, a pesar de ser pequeña para ser galaxia, su proximidad a la Tierra significa que la Enana Carina se ve bastante grande en el cielo, algo menos que la mitad del tamaño de la Luna llena – aunque mucho más tenue. Esto la hace caber cómodamente dentro del campo visual del Wide Field Imager de ESO, un instrumento diseñado para hacer observaciones de grandes partes del cielo. A pesar de que esta fotografía en si misma no es tan sorprendente, es probablemente la mejor fotografía de la Galaxia Enana Carina a la fecha.
La fotografía fue hecha usando observaciones del Wide Field Imager en el telescopio MPG/ESO de 2,2 metros en La Silla, y del telescopio Victor M. Blanco de 4 metros en el Observatorio Inter-Americano de Cerro Tololo.
Crédito:ESO/G. Bono & CTIO
Sobre la imagen
| Identificador: | potw1126a |
| Idioma: | es |
| Tipo: | Observación |
| Fecha de publicación: | 27 de Junio de 2011 a las 10:00 |
| Tamaño: | 3771 x 3145 px |
Sobre el objeto
| Nombre: | Carina Dwarf Galaxy |
| Tipo: | Local Universe : Galaxy : Size : Dwarf |
| Distancia: | 300000 años luz |
| Constellation: | Carina |
Fondo de pantalla
Coordenadas
| Position (RA): | 6 41 36.72 |
| Position (Dec): | -50° 57' 58.86" |
| Field of view: | 31.42 x 26.20 arcminutes |
| Orientación: | El norte está a 0.2° a la derecha de la vertical |
Colores y filtros
| Banda | Telescopio |
|---|---|
| Óptico U | MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope WFI |
| Óptico B | Other |
| Óptico V | MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope WFI |
| Infrarrojo I | Other |
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