Edge-On Spiral Galaxy NGC 253: Behind a Dusty Veil Lies a Cradle of Star Birth
stsci_1998-42a December 3rd, 1998
Credit: Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI/NASA/ESA)
NGC 253 is a large, almost edge-on spiral galaxy, and is one of the nearest galaxies beyond our local neighborhood of galaxies. This dramatic galaxy shows complex structures such as clumpy gas clouds, darkened dust lanes, and young, luminous central star clusters. These elements are typical of spiral galaxies. Caroline Herschel discovered NGC 253 in 1783 while looking for comets. The galaxy's closeness to Earth makes it an ideal target for amateur astronomers who can see the southern sky and for astronomers interested in learning more about the makeup of these stunning cities of stars.
Provider: Space Telescope Science Institute
Image Source: https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/1998/news-1998-42
Curator: STScI, Baltimore, MD, USA
Image Use Policy: http://hubblesite.org/copyright/
-
View Options
Download Options
-
Full Size Image
(948 x 960)
Source TIFF (2.62 MB)
- Additional Sizes (JPG)
- 316 x 320 (47.8 KB)
- 1011 x 1024 (272 KB)
- 493 x 500 (90.2 KB)
- 1264 x 1280 (379 KB)
Image Details
Distance
Position Details
Color Mapping
- ID
- 1998-42a
- Subject Category
- C.5.5.1
- Subject Name
- NGC 253
- Credits
- Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI/NASA/ESA)
- Release Date
- 1998-12-03T00:00:00
- Lightyears
- 7,500,000
- Redshift
- 7,500,000
- Reference Url
- https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/1998/news-1998-42
- Type
- Observation
- Image Quality
- Good
- Distance Notes
- Distance in lightyears
- Facility
- Hubble, Hubble, Hubble
- Instrument
- WFPC2, WFPC2, WFPC2
- Color Assignment
- Blue, Green, Red
- Band
- Ultraviolet, Optical, Infrared
- Bandpass
- U, V, I
- Central Wavelength
- 336, 555, 814
- Start Time
- Integration Time
- Dataset ID
- Notes
- Coordinate Frame
- ICRS
- Equinox
- 2000.0
- Reference Value
- 11.89601311667, -25.28406804722
- Reference Dimension
- 948.00, 960.00
- Reference Pixel
- 508.09634049614, 477.93446476522
- Scale
- -0.00004312661, 0.00004312661
- Rotation
- 172.53668856680
- Coordinate System Projection:
- TAN
- Quality
- Full
- FITS Header
- Notes
- World Coordinate System resolved using PinpointWCS 0.9.2 revision 218+ by the Chandra X-ray Center FITS X FITS Y EPO X EPO Y 212.47 290.47 882.73 915.32 1122.21 335.86 305.38 804.95 1445.41 635.52 124.91 586.77 1394.25 603.91 154.71 611.19 881.89 840.61 501.07 504.96 861.86 837.54 514.00 508.20 534.94 690.94 710.05 630.78 Center Pixel Coordinates: 474.00 11.89438165746 480.00 -25.28399813084
- Creator (Curator)
- STScI
- URL
- http://hubblesite.org
- Name
- Space Telescope Science Institute Office of Public Outreach
- outreach@stsci.edu
- Telephone
- 410-338-4444
- Address
- 3700 San Martin Drive
- City
- Baltimore
- State/Province
- MD
- Postal Code
- 21218
- Country
- USA
- Rights
- http://hubblesite.org/copyright/
- Publisher
- STScI
- Publisher ID
- stsci
- Resource ID
- STSCI-H-p9842a-f-948x960.tif
- Resource URL
- https://mast.stsci.edu/api/latest/Download/file?uri=mast:OPO/product/STSCI-H-p9842a-f-948x960.tif
- Related Resources
- http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1998/42
- Metadata Date
- 2022-07-06T00:00:00
- Metadata Version
- 1.2
Detailed color mapping information coming soon...
