The Sculptor galaxy is similar in many respects to the Milky Way. It is about the same size and mass, with a similar spiral structure, but while it is impossible to get a full view of the Milky Way from the vantage point of Earth, because we are inside it, Sculptor is perfectly positioned for a good look.
Astronomers on Wednesday did just that, releasing an ultra-detailed image of the Sculptor galaxy obtained with 50 hours of observations using one of the world’s biggest telescopes, the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile.
The image shows Sculptor, also called NGC 253, in about 4,000 colors, each corresponding to a wavelength in the optical spectrum.
Photo: Reuters
Because various galactic components emit light differently across the spectrum, the observations are providing information at unprecedented detail on the inner workings of an entire galaxy, from star formation to the motion of interstellar gas on large scales. Conventional images in astronomy offer only a handful of colors, providing less information.
The researchers used the telescope’s Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument.
“NGC 253 is close enough that we can observe it in remarkable detail with MUSE, yet far enough that we can still see the entire galaxy in a single field of view,” said astronomer Enrico Congiu, a fellow at the European Southern Observatory in Santiago, and lead author of the research being published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
Sculptor is about 11 million light-years from Earth, making it one of the closest big galaxies to the Milky Way. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 9.5 trillion kilometers.
Like the Milky Way, it is a barred spiral galaxy, meaning it has an elongated structure extending from its nucleus, with spiral arms extending from the ends of the bar. Its diameter of about 88,000 light-years is similar to the Milky Way’s, as is its total mass.
One major difference is Sculptor’s rate of new star formation, estimated to be two to three times greater than that of the Milky Way.
Nearly 30 percent of this star formation is happening near the galaxy’s nucleus in what is called a starburst region, as revealed in colorful emissions shown in the new image.
“Since the light from stars is typically bluer if the stars are young or redder if the stars are old, having thousands of colors lets us learn a lot about what stars and populations of stars exist in the galaxy,” study coauthor and Heidelberg University astronomer Kathryn Kreckel said.
The researchers marveled at the scientific and aesthetic value of the new view of Sculptor.
“I personally find these images amazing,” Congiu said. “What amazes me the most is that every time I look at them, I notice something new — another nebula, a splash of unexpected color or some subtle structure that hints at the incredible physics behind it all.”
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