by bystander » Tue Oct 15, 2013 9:14 pm
A special spiral galaxy for over 200,000 Facebook fans
ESA/HEIC Hubble Picture of the Week | 2013 Oct 14
This Hubble Picture of the Week is dedicated to the over 200,000
Facebook fans of ESA/Hubble, who share our passion for the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the discoveries it brings. We thank you for staying in touch with us!
The image, captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows part of
NGC 3621, an unusual spiral galaxy located over 20 million light-years away in the constellation of
Hydra (The Water Snake).
The small, bright nucleus on the right of the image does not have the significant bulge of older stars that is common in spiral galaxies, marking
NGC 3621 as a "pure-disc" galaxy. Many luminous clumps of blue young stars are scattered along the loose spiral arms, which are partially obscured by the dark dust lanes snaking across the frame. This galaxy is very useful for astronomers; some of its brightest stars can be used to estimate extragalactic distances, allowing us to measure the vast scale of the Universe.
A version of this image was entered into the
Hubble's Hidden Treasures image processing competition by contestant
Claude Cornen. The Hubble Space Telescope is the astronomers' tele-lens; a wider view of this galaxy was obtained with ESO's Very Large Telescope (
potw1148a), and a wide-angle image with the Wide-Field Imager (WFI) at ESO's La Silla Observatory (
eso1104). Just as for normal landscape photography, different lenses – or telescopes, in this case! – are used depending on what the photographer wants to shoot.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Acknowledgement: Claude Cornen
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[url=http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1341a/][size=120][b][i]A special spiral galaxy for over 200,000 Facebook fans[/i][/b][/size][/url]
ESA/HEIC Hubble Picture of the Week | 2013 Oct 14
[quote]
[float=right][url=http://www.spacetelescope.org/static/archives/images/screen/potw1341a.jpg][img]http://www.spacetelescope.org/static/archives/images/medium/potw1341a.jpg[/img][/url][/float]This Hubble Picture of the Week is dedicated to the over 200,000 [url=https://www.facebook.com/hubbleESA]Facebook fans of ESA/Hubble[/url], who share our passion for the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the discoveries it brings. We thank you for staying in touch with us!
The image, captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows part of [url=http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=NGC+3621]NGC 3621[/url], an unusual spiral galaxy located over 20 million light-years away in the constellation of [url=http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/hydra.htm]Hydra[/url] (The Water Snake).
The small, bright nucleus on the right of the image does not have the significant bulge of older stars that is common in spiral galaxies, marking [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_3621]NGC 3621[/url] as a "pure-disc" galaxy. Many luminous clumps of blue young stars are scattered along the loose spiral arms, which are partially obscured by the dark dust lanes snaking across the frame. This galaxy is very useful for astronomers; some of its brightest stars can be used to estimate extragalactic distances, allowing us to measure the vast scale of the Universe.
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/27527123@N02/7151801437/]A version of this image[/url] was entered into the [url=http://www.spacetelescope.org/hiddentreasures/]Hubble's Hidden Treasures[/url] [url=http://www.flickr.com/groups/hubblehiddentreasures_advanced/]image processing competition[/url] by contestant [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/27527123@N02/]Claude Cornen[/url]. The Hubble Space Telescope is the astronomers' tele-lens; a wider view of this galaxy was obtained with ESO's Very Large Telescope ([url=http://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1148a/]potw1148a[/url]), and a wide-angle image with the Wide-Field Imager (WFI) at ESO's La Silla Observatory ([url=http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1104/]eso1104[/url]). Just as for normal landscape photography, different lenses – or telescopes, in this case! – are used depending on what the photographer wants to shoot.
[b][i]Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Acknowledgement: Claude Cornen[/i][/b] [/quote]
[url=http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=32277][size=85][b][i]<< Previous ESA/HEIC Hubble POTW[/i][/b][/size][/url]