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Credit & Copyright: NOAJ: Subaru,
NASA &
ESA:
Hubble,
ESO:
VLT
&
Danish 1.5-m;
Processing & Copyright: Robert Gendler & Roberto Colombari
Explanation:
NGC 253 is one of the brightest spiral galaxies visible, but also one of
the dustiest.
Dubbed the
Silver Coin
for its appearance in smalltelescopes, it is more formally known as
the Sculptor Galaxy
for its location within the boundaries of the southern constellation Sculptor.
Discovered in 1783 by mathematician and astronomer
Caroline Herschel,
the dusty island universe lies a mere 10 million light-years away.
About 70 thousand light-years across, NGC 253,
pictured, is the largest member of
the Sculptor
Group of Galaxies, the nearest to our own
Local Group
of galaxies.
In addition to its spiral dust lanes, tendrils of dust seem to be
rising from a galactic disk
laced with young star clusters and star forming regions in this
sharp color image.
The high dust
content accompanies frantic star formation,
earning
NGC 253 the designation of a
starburst
galaxy.
NGC 253
is also known to be a
strong source of high-energy
x-rays and
gamma rays,
likely due to massive
black holes near the galaxy's center.
Take a trip through extragalactic space in
this short
video flyby of NGC 253.
Processing & Copyright: Robert Gendler & Roberto Colombari
Astrophysicists:
Browse 2,100+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: NGC 253 - spiral galaxy
Publications with words: NGC 253 - spiral galaxy
See also: