Silver Galactic Sliver

Noirlab_iotw2023a_1024

noirlab_iotw2023a June 3rd, 2020

Credit: KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA Acknowledgments: PI: M.T. Patterson (New Mexico State University)Image processing: Travis Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), Mahdi Zamani & Davide de Martin

The Silver Sliver Galaxy — more formally known as NGC 891 — is shown in this striking image from the Mosaic instrument on the 4-meter Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. NGC 891 is a spiral galaxy that lies almost perfectly edge-on to us, leading to its elongated appearance and its striking resemblance to our home galaxy, the Milky Way, as seen from the Earth. Since NGC 891 is oriented edge-on, it’s great for investigating the galactic fountain model. When stellar winds and supernovae from the disk of a galaxy eject gas into the surrounding medium, it can create condensation that rains back down onto the disk. The condensed gas then provides new fuel for star formation. In addition to the portrait of NGC 891, this image is littered with astronomical objects near and far — bright foreground stars from our own galaxy intrude upon the view of NGC 891 and distant galaxies lurk in the background.

Provider: NOIRLab

Image Source: https://noirlab.edu/public/images/iotw2023a/

Curator: NSF's NOIRLab, Tucson, AZ, USA

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
NGC 891
Noirlab_iotw2023a_128
 

Position Details Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 2h 22m 32.0s
DEC = 42° 20’ 50.3”
Orientation
North is 90.0° CW
Field of View
18.2 x 14.4 arcminutes
Constellation
Andromeda

Color Mapping Details Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red KPNO-4m (Mosaic I) Optical (H-alpha) 657.0 nm
Orange KPNO-4m (Mosaic I) Optical (R) 651.0 nm
Cyan KPNO-4m (Mosaic I) Optical (B) 438.0 nm
Blue KPNO-4m (Mosaic I) Optical (U) 355.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Orange
Cyan
Blue
Noirlab_iotw2023a_1280
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ID
iotw2023a
Subject Category
Subject Name
NGC 891
Credits
KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA Acknowledgments: PI: M.T. Patterson (New Mexico State University)Image processing: Travis Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), Mahdi Zamani & Davide de Martin
Release Date
2020-06-03T05:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://noirlab.edu/public/images/iotw2023a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope, Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope, Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope, Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope
Instrument
Mosaic I, Mosaic I, Mosaic I, Mosaic I
Color Assignment
Red, Orange, Cyan, Blue
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
H-alpha, R, B, U
Central Wavelength
657, 651, 438, 355
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
None, None, None, None
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
35.633532286, 42.3472930658
Reference Dimension
4179.0, 3295.0
Reference Pixel
2089.5, 1647.5
Scale
-7.27191251497e-05, 7.27191251497e-05
Rotation
-90.020000000000039
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
NSF's NOIRLab
URL
https://noirlab.edu
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
950 North Cherry Ave.
City
Tucson
State/Province
AZ
Postal Code
85719
Country
USA
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
NSF's NOIRLab
Publisher ID
noirlab
Resource ID
iotw2023a
Metadata Date
2020-05-08T19:54:23+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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