Pressemeddelelse
En spiral i Løven
10. august 2011
Dette nye billede fra ESO’s Very Large Telescope viser spiralgalaksen NGC 3521, der ligger omkring 35 millioner lysår væk i stjernebilledet Leo (på dansk Løven). Dette spektakulære objekt, der er omkring 50.000 lysår stort, har en klar og kompakt kerne omgivet af en detaljerig spiralstruktur.
Det mest karakteristiske træk for den klare galakse NGC 3521 er dens lange spiralarme, der er overstrøet med stjernedannende områder og gennemflettet med årer af støv. Armene er forholdsvis uregelmæssige og klumpede, hvilket gør NGC 3521 til et typisk eksempel på en flokkulent (ulden) spiralgalakse. Disse galakser har ”uldne” spiralarme, i modsætning til de flot svungne arme på grand-design spiraler som den berømte Malstrømsgalakse eller M 51, der blev opdaget af Charles Messier.
NGC 3521 er klar og forholdsvis nærtliggende og kan let ses med en lille kikkert som den Messier brugte i 1700-tallet til at lave sit katalog over en række tågede og kometagtige objekter. Underligt nok missede den franske astronom denne flokkulente spiral, selvom han fandt flere andre galakser af lignende lysstyrke i stjernebilledet Løven.
Det var først i det år, hvor Messier offentliggjorde den endelige udgave af sit katalog, 1784, at en anden berømt astronom, William Herschel, opdagede NGC 3521. Han fandt den tidligt i sin mere detaljerede kortlægning af den nordlige stjernehimmel. Gennem sit større teleskop med 47 cm åbning så Herschel ifølge sine observationsnotater et ”klart center omgivet af tåge”.
I dette nye VLT-billede erstatter farverige, men dog dårligt definerede spiralarme Herschels ”tåge”. Ældre stjerner dominerer det rødlige område i centret, mens unge, varme, blå stjerner breder sig i armene længere væk fra kernen.
Oleg Maliy, som deltog i konkurrencen ”ESO’s Skjulte Skatte 2010” [1], udvalgte de data fra FORS1-instrumentet på ESO’s VLT på Paranal-observatoriet i Chile, der er blevet brugt til at lave dette dramatiske billede. Billedet er en kombination af optagelser gennem et blåt filter (gengivet med blå farver), et gul/grønt filter (gengivet med grønne farver) og et nær-infrarødt filter (gengivet med røde farver). Den totale eksponeringstid var 300 sekunder pr. filter. Olegs billede af NGC 3521 fik en meget god placering i konkurrencen, der modtog næsten 100 bidrag.
Noter
[1] Astrofoto-konkurrencen ”ESO’s Skjulte Skatte 2010” gav amatørastronomer mulighed for at gennemgå ESO’s enorme arkiv af astronomiske data i håbet om at finde en skjult kosmisk perle, der havde behov for polering. Besøg http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/hiddentreasures/ for at se mere om ”ESO’s Skjulte Skatte 2010”.
Mere information
ESO, det Europæiske Syd Observatorium, er den mest fremtrædende internationale astronomi-organisation i Europa og verdens mest produktive astronomiske observatorium. ESO har i dag følgende 15 medlemslande: Belgien, Brasilien, Danmark, Finland, Frankrig, Holland, Italien, Portugal, Schweiz og Storbritannien, Spanien, Sverige, Tjekkiet, Tyskland og Østrig. ESO’s aktiviteter er fokuseret på design, konstruktion og drift af jordbaserede observationsfaciliteter for at muliggøre vigtige videnskabelige opdagelser inden for astronomi. ESO spiller også en ledende rolle for at fremme og organisere samarbejdet inden for astronomisk forskning. I Chile driver ESO tre unikke observatorier i verdensklasse: La Silla, Paranal og Chajnantor. På Paranal driver ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT), der er verdens mest avancerede astronomiske observatorium til observationer i synligt lys samt to kortlægningsteleskoper. VISTA arbejder i infrarødt lys og er verdens største kortlægningsteleskop, mens VLT Survey Telescope (VST) er det største teleskop, der udelukkende er bygget til at kortlægge himlen i synligt lys. ESO er den europæiske partner i et revolutionerede astronomisk teleskop kaldet ALMA, det største igangværende astronomiske projekt. ESO planlægger i øjeblikket et 40 meter optisk/nær-infrarødt teleskop kaldet European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), der vil blive ”verdens største øje mod himlen”.
Links
Kontakter
Richard Hook
ESO, La Silla, Paranal, E-ELT and Survey Telescopes Public Information Officer
Garching bei München, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6655
E-mail: rhook@eso.org
Ole J. Knudsen (Pressekontakt Danmark)
ESOs formidlingsnetværk
og Aarhus Space Centre, Aarhus Universitet
Aarhus, Danmark
Tel: +45 8715 5597
E-mail: eson-denmark@eso.org
Om pressemeddelelsen
| Pressemeddelelse nr.: | eso1129da |
| Navn: | NGC 3521 |
| Type: | Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Spiral |
| Facility: | Very Large Telescope |
| Instruments: | FORS1 |
Billeder
tekst kun tilgængelig på engelsk
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