Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have produced a beautiful image of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1300.
This image shows NGC 1300, a barred spiral galaxy some 61 million light-years away in the constellation of Eridanus. Image credit: ESO / ALMA / NAOJ / NRAO / PHANGS.
NGC 1300 is located approximately 61 million light-years away in the constellation of Eridanus.
Otherwise known as AGC 22472, ESO 547-31, IRAS 03174-1935, LEDA 12412 and UGCA 66, the galaxy was discovered by the English astronomer John Herschel on December 11, 1835.
NGC 1300, which is about 110,000 light-years across, hosts a so-called grand-design inner disk — a spiral within a spiral.
The galaxy belongs to the Eridanus Cluster, a gathering of about 200 galaxies.
“NGC 1300 is a spiral galaxy, with a bar of stars and gas — seen here crossing the image horizontally — and a central ring of intense star formation,” the astronomers said.
“The image is a combination of observations conducted at different colors — or wavelengths — of light.”
“The golden caramel glow corresponds to clouds of molecular gas, the raw material out of which stars form. These data were taken with ALMA.”
“The bluish regions in the background reveal the distribution of slightly older, already formed stars, imaged by VLT’s MUSE instrument.”
The images were taken as part of the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS) project, which is making high-resolution observations of nearby galaxies with telescopes operating across all wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum.
“Different wavelengths can reveal a multitude of secrets about a galaxy, and by comparing them we are able to study what activates, boosts or hinders the birth of new stars,” the researchers said.
Source link: https://www.sci.news/astronomy/spiral-within-spiral-ngc-1300-10445.html
