Falling in Fornax

Eso_potw1943a_1024

eso_potw1943a October 28th, 2019

Credit: ESO

This strikingly simple and serene view of NGC 1404 — a giant elliptical galaxy located 62 million light-years away in the constellation of Fornax (The Furnace) — hides the galaxy’s cruel reality. NGC 1404 is one of the galaxies comprising the massive Fornax Cluster — and it is slowly falling inwards towards the cluster’s core. As it moves towards the cluster’s large centremost galaxy, NGC 1399, the galaxy’s reserves of hot gas are being forcibly ripped and stripped away, leaving an elongated tell-tale trail of gas in its wake. While not visible in this image, this gas stream can be seen clearly in X-ray images of the galaxy; in time, NGC 1404 will lose most of its hot gas, and therefore its ability to form new stars. ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) captured this image of NGC 1404 with its FORS instrument. The bright foreground star to the lower left of the frame is named HD 22862.

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1943a/

Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, None, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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Image Details Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
HD 22862 • NGC 1404
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Elliptical
Eso_potw1943a_128
 

Position Details Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 3h 38m 51.9s
DEC = -35° 35’ 33.1”
Orientation
North is up
Field of View
6.7 x 6.9 arcminutes
Constellation
Eridanus

Color Mapping Details Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red VLT (FORS2) Optical (R) -
Green VLT (FORS2) Optical (V) -
Blue VLT (FORS2) Optical (B) -
Eso_potw1943a_1280
×
ID
potw1943a
Subject Category
C.5.1.4  
Subject Name
HD 22862, NGC 1404
Credits
ESO
Release Date
2019-10-28T06:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1943a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
NED
Facility
Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope
Instrument
FORS2, FORS2, FORS2
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
R, V, B
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
54.7161352909, -35.592524639
Reference Dimension
1604.0, 1637.0
Reference Pixel
802.0, 818.5
Scale
-6.99861416522e-05, 6.99861416522e-05
Rotation
-0
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
European Southern Observatory
URL
http://www.eso.org
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
None
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
European Southern Observatory
Publisher ID
eso
Resource ID
potw1943a
Resource URL
https://www.eso.org/public/archives/images/original/potw1943a.tif
Related Resources
Metadata Date
2016-05-03T15:02:37+02:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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