A Messy Nursery of Stars

The thousands of newly formed stars at the heart of NGC 5236 were imaged with the MUSE instrument, attached to ESO’s Very Large Telescope at Paranal Observatory in Chile. Referred to mostly as the Southern Pinwheel galaxy, NGC 5236 receives its common name from its beautiful spiral arm configuration and its location in a Southern Hemisphere constellation: Hydra. Bright regions of star formation light up this galaxy, including the region imaged here, located within the galaxy's centre. 

With the right conditions, and commonly within the spiral arms of a galaxy, cold molecular clouds mostly composed of hydrogen gas can collapse and form into brand new stars. In larger clouds, the burning of a new star can create a domino effect, initiating the collapse of the surrounding gas into even more stars. Within a galaxy’s centre however, other processes are at play. The supermassive black hole at the centre of NGC 5236 funnels vast channels of material and matter towards itself; at the same time, it erratically spits matter and large quantities of energy outwards, making the huge amount of star formation around this galaxy's central region extra messy.

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O zdjęciu

Identyfikator:potw2047a
Typ:Obserwacje
Data publikacji:23 listopada 2020 06:00
Rozmiar:641 x 633 px

O obiekcie

Nazwa:NGC 5236
Typ:Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Spiral
Constellation:Hydra
Kategoria:Galaxies

Formaty zdjęć

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474,1 KB
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Współrzędne

Pozycja (RA):13 37 0.98
Pozycja (Dec):-29° 51' 54.98"
Pole widzenia:1.07 x 1.06 arcminutes
Orientacja:North is 0.0° prawo of vertical

Kolory i filtry

PasmoDługość faliTeleskop
Optyczny
B
438 nmVery Large Telescope
MUSE
Optyczny
g
475 nmVery Large Telescope
MUSE
Optyczny
r
625 nmVery Large Telescope
MUSE
Optyczny
S II
672 nmVery Large Telescope
MUSE
Optyczny
N II
658 nmVery Large Telescope
MUSE
Optyczny
H-alpha
656 nmVery Large Telescope
MUSE