With its spiral and unique bright form, the galaxy Known as NGC 253 was captured by international astronomers, which allowed to observe the life of the stars inside, its composition and the colors that emanate.
The frames were captured from the Atacama desert, in Chile, where the Cerro Paranal Observatory is located, with the long -range telescope (VLT). According to data from the constellation guide portal, the sculptor’s galaxy is an intermediate spiral galaxy located at approximately 11.4 million light years from the earth.
This galaxy is found in the southern constellation of the sculptor – where its name comes – has an apparent magnitude of 8.0 and an apparent size of 27.5 for 6.8 minutes of arc.
NASA details that the sculptor’s galaxy is part of a cluster of galaxies visible for the observers of the southern hemisphere and was discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1783 during one of its systematic searches of comets.
“It is known as galaxy with stellar formation outbreaks due to the extraordinarily intense star activity in its nucleus. This activity heats the surrounding dust clouds, which causes the bright reddish yellow glow in the center,” says the agency.
New frame of the sculptor galaxy
The images achieved by astronomers show life inside and were obtained by capturing large amounts of data at each point, which generated an integral snapshot of this galaxy.
To achieve this, astronomers integrated a spectroscopic explorer of multiple units (Muse) into the long -range telescope. After 50 hours of observation, the complete map of the sculptor’s galaxy was obtained.
The scientists joined more than one hundred exhibitions to cover an area of approximately 65,000 light years wide, the European Observatory (ESO) reported.
Unlike conventional images – which contain a limited number of tones – this new map has thousands of colors. This feature allows astronomers to know in greater detail the stars, gas and dust of the galaxy, including their age, composition and movement.
“We can approach to study individual regions where stars are formed almost to the scale of individual stars, but we can also get away to study the galaxy as a whole,” said Kathryn Krecke, from the University of Heidelberg and co -author of the study, highlighting the value of this tool.
The new image reveals a wide dimension of colors and tones, which represents a significant advance in the knowledge of this galaxy, since it opens the possibility of exploring its internal components with greater depth.
Sculptor galaxy mapping analysis
The international astronomer team carried out by the new mapping also performed an analysis of its formation. They determined that it is composed of around 500 planetary nebulae, that is, stars gas and dust regions.
“The basic components of a galaxy – stars, gas and dust – emit light in different colors. Therefore, the more color tones have an image of a galaxy, the more you can learn about its internal functioning,” the researchers concluded.