Press Releases 2006

ESO PR Photo 08a/06

Spiral Galaxy Messier 100 (FORS/VLT)

[Preview - JPEG: 413 x 400 pix - 33k]
[Normal - JPEG: 826 x 800 pix - 844k]
[FullRes - JPEG: 2037 x 1972 pix - 5.1M]
[FullRes - TIFF: 2037 x 1972 pix - 12M]

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ESO PR Photo 08a/06 is a composite based on five images taken with FORS1 on Kueyen (VLT) by Dominique Naef, Eric Depagne and Chris Lidman (ESO). The images were taken through different filters: U, V, R, I, and a narrow-band filter centred on the H-alpha line. The exposure time is 60 seconds in the V, R and I filters, 3 minutes in the U-band and 5 minutes in the H-alpha filter. The field of view is 6.8 x 5.1 arcmin². North is up and East is to the left. The final processing was done by Kristina Boneva, Haennes Heyer and Henri Boffin (ESO).

ESO PR Photo 08b/06

SN 2006X in Messier 100 (VIMOS and FORS/VLT)

[Preview - JPEG: 720 x 400 pix - 54k]
[Normal - JPEG: 1440 x 800 pix - 883k]
[FullRes - JPEG: 4146 x 2303 pix - 6.8M]

ESO PR Photo 08b/06 is a comparison between two images of Messier 100, taken in March 2002 with the VIMOS instrument on Melipal (VLT) and in February 2006 with FORS1 on Kueyen (VLT). The difference in colours comes from the different filters used. The supernova SN 2006X is clearly present in the FORS1 image as the bright object in the middle, just above the lower main spiral arm. It is not seen in the VIMOS image.