An infrared portrait of the barred spiral galaxy Messier 83

The image is a false-colour infrared photo of the nearby barred spiral galaxy Messier 83. It is based on the combination of three images obtained in the Ks- (wavelength 2.2 µm), J- (1.2 µm) and I-bands (0.8 µm), respectively. The first two were recorded with the SOFI instrument at the ESO 3.5-m New Technology Telescope , the third with the DFOSC instrument at the Danish 1.54-m telescope, both at the La Silla Observatory.

Technical information: This image of Messier 83 is based on a composite of three images in the filters Ks (NTT + SOFI ; wavelength 2.162 µm; Full-Width-Half-Maximum (FWHM) 0.275 µm; total exposure time on target 49 min; approx. 12 min per quadrant; here rendered as red); J (NTT + SOFI; 1.247 µm; 0.290 µm; 22 min; 5 min; green), and I (Danish 1.54-m + DFOSC ; 0.797 µm; 0.142 µm; 20 min; full-field coverage; blue). As indicated, the Ks and J images were created from exposures of four neighbouring fields. These images were taken in May 2001 during a period with 1.0 arcsec average seeing. The original frames have 1024 x 1024 pixels, each measuring 0.29 arcsec. The resulting mosaic was created from 31 Ks-band object frames and 17 J-band object frames, each with 100 sec exposure time. From each object frame, a sky frame with the same exposure time was subtracted to remove the sky contribution. The final size of the mosaic image is 1905 x 1839 pixels (9.2 x 8.9 arcmin). The I image was observed in February 1998 by Søren Larsen (more information about this image is available in "Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement", Vol 139, p.393-415, 1999 and at URL: http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/). The original frame size was 2036 x 2042 pixels, each measuring 0.39 arcsec. The pixel size and the field-of-view of this image was changed to match the characteristics of the Ks and J images. North is up and east to the left.

Crédit:

ESO

À propos de l'image

Identification:eso0136a
Type:Observation
Date de publication:29 novembre 2001
Communiqués de presse en rapport:eso0136
Taille:2271 x 2203 px

À propos de l'objet

Nom:M 83, Messier 83, NGC 5236
Type:Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Barred
Distance:15 million années lumière
Constellation:Hydra
Catégorie:Galaxies

Formats des images

Grand JPEG
4,6 Mio
JPEG taille écran
532,6 Kio

Fonds d'écran

1024x768
582,7 Kio
1280x1024
1,0 Mio
1600x1200
1,6 Mio
1920x1200
2,0 Mio
2048x1536
2,7 Mio

Coordinates

Position (RA):13 37 0.96
Position (Dec):-29° 51' 56.15"
Field of view:9.02 x 8.75 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 0.1° left of vertical

Couleurs & filtres

DomaineLongueur d'ondeTélescope
Infrarouge
I
800 nmDanish 1.54-metre telescope
DFOSC
Infrarouge
J
1.2 μmNew Technology Telescope
SOFI
Infrarouge
K
2.2 μmNew Technology Telescope
SOFI