NGC 253:银元星系

2020 April 14

NGC 253: The Silver Coin Galaxy
Image Credit: 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.

Astrophysicists: Browse 2,100+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library

Tomorrow’s picture: triple play MVP

NGC 253:银元星系
影像提供: NOAJ: Subaru, NASA & ESA: Hubble, ESO: VLT & Danish 1.5-m;
影像处理与版权: Robert Gendler & Roberto Colombari

说明: NGC 253是地球天空中，最明亮与最多尘埃的螺旋星系之一。因它在小望远镜里的外观，而有银元星系的昵称；此外，它座落在南天的玉夫座之内，而另有玉夫星系的令名。这个离我们约1千万光年远的尘埃星系，是由数学家兼天文学家卡洛琳·赫歇尔发现于1783年。宽约7万光年的NGC 253，是玉夫座星系群最大的成员星系，而此星系群则是最靠近本星系群的邻居。除了此星系的螺旋状尘埃带之外，丝缕状的尘埃，也看似从满布年轻星团和恒星形成区的星系盘飘飞出来。高尘埃含量再加上剧烈的恒星诞生活动，让NGC 253 博得星遽增星系的分类。星系NGC 253也是个很强烈的高能量X射线及伽玛射线源，而这可能是因为这个星系的核心有超大质量黑洞所致。最后请观赏这部简短的NGC 253飞越影片，来一段河外空间之旅。

天体物理学家：浏览天体物理学源代码库的2100+代码

明日的图片: triple play MVP