Galactic arms comb ‘Berenice’s Hair’ in beautiful telescope photo
A spiral galaxy graces “Berenice’s Hair” in a striking telescope photo.
Although Charles Messier famously developed a catalog of celestial bodies in the 18th century encompassing this galaxy, formally known as NGC 4254, NASA writes: that another French astronomer named Pierre Méchain was the one who discovered it in 1781. But the more famous observer is the one represented by the spiral galaxy’s popular name, Messier 99.
This object is located 55 million light-years from Soil. According to NASA, it can be seen in the month of May with an average-sized telescope. But the spiral universe received high-definition treatment with robust observation instruments in South America. Messier 99’s well-defined arms resemble a pinwheel in a new image from the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) PHANGS study.
Related: Take a beautiful aerial tour of ESO’s large telescopes in Chile (video)
Short for high angular resolution physics in nearby galaxies, PHANGS “produces high-resolution images of nearby galaxies across all wavelengths of light,” ESO officials write in an Oct. 24. Image description (opens in new tab). “This will allow astronomers to learn more about the diverse galactic environments in our universe.”
To observe Messier 99, astronomers have commissioned two ESO facilities in Chile – the Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) – to look inside “Berenice’s Hair”, a constellation formally known stands as Coma Berenices. It is in the northern sky, near the constellation Leo.
The orange color of Messier 99’s spiral arms in the photo and the red at the edges are ALMA data. These vibrant hues depict, according to ESO, “cold gas clouds that may eventually collapse” stars.”
The purple and blue hues that shimmer in contrast are stars scattered throughout the galaxy. These cooler colors represent data from the VLT.
Messier 99 may give astronomers more clues about how stars form in the universe. “Compare these two data sets [ALMA and VLT] provides a better understanding of how stars form,” write ESO officials.
This object has also been the subject of other missions, such as the venerable Hubble Space Telescope. “This galaxy is being called a grand design spiral,” NASA officials wrote in 2017 (opens in new tab) in describing the Hubble observations, “with long, large and clearly defined spiral arms — giving it a structure somewhat similar to our own galaxy, the Milky Way.”
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