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Astronomy Picture of the Day
NGC 253: Dusty Island Universe
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#85946
by
[z]Barbara Harris
@
22.04.2006 00:00
- nach oben -
NGC 253: Dusty Island Universe
Explanation:
Shiny
NGC 253
, sometimes called the Silver Dollar
Galaxy, is one of the brightest spiral galaxies visible -
and also one of the dustiest.
First
swept up
in 1783 by mathematician
and astronomer
Caroline Herschel
,
the dusty island universe lies a mere 10 million light-years
away in the
southern constellation
Sculptor.
About 70 thousand light-years across, NGC 253 is the largest
member of the
Sculptor Group of Galaxies
, the nearest to our
own
Local Group of Galaxies
.
In addition to its spiral dust lanes, striking tendrils of
dust seem to be
rising
from the galactic disk in
this
gorgeous view
.
The high dust content accompanies frantic
star formation,
giving
NGC 253 the designation of a starburst galaxy.
NGC 253 is also known
to be a strong
source of high-energy
x-rays and gamma rays, likely due to massive black holes near
the galaxy's center.
Credit & Copyright