[ad_1]
The very large telescope (VLT) of the European Observatory of Europe (ESO) in Chile has a very heavy observation schedule, but sometimes a cloudy or moonlit sky means a temporary halt to scientific measurements. At that time, the observatory team chose interesting and beautiful objects across the southern sky to color them.
In May 2018, the telescope turned to the spiral galaxy NGC 3981, located 65 million light-years from Earth, in the crater constellation.
The very large telescope of the Southern European Observatory (ESO) in Chile captured this view of the spiral galaxy NGC 3981 in May 2018. The image was taken using the ESO FORS2 instrument, in part of the Cosmic Gems program. are not good for scientific observations. An asteroid trail can also be seen near the summit, slightly to the right of the center.
Credit: ESO
According to an ESO statement, the picture shows the spiral arms of material and dense disk of hot young stars of the galaxy. Because of the angle of the galaxy, you can also see its bright center, which is very energetic and hosts a supermassive black hole. The weapons may have been stretched outward by a clash with another galaxy at some point, ESO officials said. [Amazing Space Views of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (Photos)]
The image also features Milky Way stars in the foreground, as well as a surprise guest: an asteroid whose path across the sky is slightly visible up the image (slightly to right of center). The trajectory of the asteroid comes in three colors – blue, green and red – because of the way the color images are assembled. A VLT instrument called FORS2 gathered the light in three different exposures and combined them to create the final image, following the path traveled by the asteroid at each exposure.
By focusing on science, the VLT has turned its mammoth eye towards worlds surrounding distant stars, observing the shape of the exoplanets and my atmospheric measurements, monitoring gas and dust across the universe and monitoring the atmosphere. Galactic evolution.
Email Sarah Lewin at [email protected] or follow her @SarahExplains. follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
[ad_2]
Source link
