VISTA’s view on stellar births

Eso_potw2245a_1024

eso_potw2245a November 7th, 2022

Credit: ESO/VVVX survey

This Picture of the Week shows a new view of NGC 3603 (left) and NGC 3576 (right), two stunning nebulas imaged with ESO’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA). This infrared image peers through the dust in these nebulas, revealing details hidden in optical images.  NGC 3603 and NGC 3576 are 22,000 and 9,000 lightyears away from us, respectively. Inside these extended clouds of dust and gas, new stars are born, gradually changing the shapes of the nebulas via intense radiation and powerful winds of charged particles. Given their proximity, astronomers have the opportunity to study the intense star formation process that is as common in other galaxies but harder to observe due to the vast distances. The two nebulas were catalogued by John Frederick William Herschel in 1834 during a trip to South Africa, where he wanted to compile stars, nebulas and other objects in the sky of the southern hemisphere. This catalogue was then expanded by John Louis Emil Dreyer in 1888 into the New General Catalogue, hence the NGC identifier in these and other astronomical objects.

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2245a/

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

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
NGC 3576 NGC 3603
Subject - Milky Way
Nebula > Type > Star Formation
Eso_potw2245a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 11h 13m 36.5s
DEC = -61° 15’ 12.4”
Orientation
North is 7.6° CW
Field of View
51.5 x 29.0 arcminutes
Constellation
Carina

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VIRCAM) Infrared (K) 2.2 µm
Green Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VIRCAM) Infrared (H) 1.7 µm
Blue Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VIRCAM) Infrared (J) 1.3 µm
Spectrum_base
Red
Green
Blue
Eso_potw2245a_1280
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ID
potw2245a
Subject Category
B.4.1.2  
Subject Name
NGC 3576, NGC 3603
Credits
ESO/VVVX survey
Release Date
2022-11-07T06:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2245a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy, Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy, Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy
Instrument
VIRCAM, VIRCAM, VIRCAM
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue
Band
Infrared, Infrared, Infrared
Bandpass
K, H, J
Central Wavelength
2150, 1650, 1250
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
None, None, None
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
168.402099646, -61.2534534619
Reference Dimension
9052.0, 5090.0
Reference Pixel
4526.0, 2545.5
Scale
-9.48251753709e-05, 9.48251753709e-05
Rotation
-7.5999999999999739
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
European Southern Observatory
URL
https://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
potw2245a
Metadata Date
2022-11-07T08:32:41+01:00
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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