The Spanish Dancer Galaxy: NGC 1566 | Victor Blanco Telescope in Chile

The Spanish Dancer Galaxy: NGC 1566 | Victor Blanco Telescope in Chile

This image, taken by astronomers using the U.S. Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Program of the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab, captures the galaxy NGC 1566 as it twirls, flinging its arms through the vastness of space. Colloquially nicknamed the Spanish Dancer, this spiral galaxy is often studied by astronomers learning about galaxy groups, stars of different ages, and galactic black holes.

Distance: 20 million light years

Image Credits: Dark Energy Survey DOE/FNAL/DECam/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA)

Image Processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab), J. Miller (Gemini Observatory/NSF’s NOIRLab), M. Zamani & D. de Martin (NSF’s NOIRLab)

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