Elliptical galaxy NGC 474 — excerpt from the Dark Energy Survey

Noirlab_noirlab2106a_1024

noirlab_noirlab2106a January 14th, 2021

Credit: DES/DOE/Fermilab/NCSA & CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA Acknowledgments: Image processing: DES, Jen Miller (Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab), Travis Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), Mahdi Zamani & Davide de Martin

Elliptical galaxies are generally characterized by their relatively smooth appearance when compared with spiral galaxies (one of which is to the left), which have more flocculent structures interwoven with dust lanes and spiral arms. NGC 474 is at a distance of about 100 million light-years in the constellation of Pisces. This image shows unusual structures around NGC 474 characterized as tidal tails and shell-like structures made up of hundreds of millions of stars. These features are due to recent mergers (within the last billion years) or close interactions with smaller infalling dwarf galaxies.  This image is an excerpt from the Dark Energy Survey, which has released a massive, public collection of astronomical data and calibrated images from six years of work. The Dark Energy Survey is a global collaboration that includes the Department of Energy's (DOE) Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), and NSF’s NOIRLab. The image was taken with the Dark Energy Camera, fabricated by DOE, on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope. The quality of the survey can be appreciated by diving into the zoomable version of this wider excerpt showing a background tapestry of thousands of distant galaxies. 

Provider: NOIRLab

Image Source: https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noirlab2106a/

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 474
Noirlab_noirlab2106a_128
 

Position Details Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 1h 20m 6.2s
DEC = 3° 25’ 10.4”
Orientation
North is 180.0° CCW
Field of View
24.2 x 13.3 arcminutes
Constellation
Pisces

Color Mapping Details Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Blanco-4m (DECam) Optical (I) 785.0 nm
Green Blanco-4m (DECam) Optical (R) 644.0 nm
Blue Blanco-4m (DECam) Optical (G) 474.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Green
Blue
Noirlab_noirlab2106a_1280
×
ID
noirlab2106a
Subject Category
Subject Name
NGC 474
Credits
DES/DOE/Fermilab/NCSA & CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA Acknowledgments: Image processing: DES, Jen Miller (Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab), Travis Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), Mahdi Zamani & Davide de Martin
Release Date
2021-01-14T09:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noirlab2106a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope, Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope, Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope
Instrument
DECam, DECam, DECam
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
I, R, G
Central Wavelength
785, 644, 474
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
None, None, None
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
20.0259352486, 3.41954980301
Reference Dimension
5513.0, 3038.0
Reference Pixel
2756.5, 1519.0
Scale
-7.30303645065e-05, 7.30303645065e-05
Rotation
179.99999999999989
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
noirlab2106a
Metadata Date
2021-01-08T10:39:29+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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