Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1672 in Dorado | Victor Blanco Telescope

Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1672 in Dorado | Victor Blanco Telescope

The arms of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1672 sweep across this image captured by the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Program of the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab. NGC 1672 is a celestial mystery, as it is difficult to define its galactic activity. A barred spiral galaxy has a central bar-shaped structure composed of stars.

Distance: 50 million light years

The nucleus is surrounded by a ring of hot gas filled with individual point sources of X-ray light, in other words bright, newly formed stars. However, the luminous nucleus of NGC 1672 itself shines brightly in types of light ranging from X-ray to infrared. Known as a Seyfert Type 2 nucleus, it is an example of a specific type of active galactic nucleus (AGN) and likely a supermassive black hole. Fragile young stars and a destructive AGN should not necessarily be so close together, and their proximity in this galaxy creates a conundrum. Galaxies like NGC 1672 can open up new pathways to understanding the activities and behaviors of galaxies, including their long-term evolution.

Data for this image were collected using the Dark Energy Camera on the 4-meter Víctor M. Blanco Telescope for the Dark Energy Survey. It has mapped millions of galaxies to determine the nature of dark energy. The analysis of data from the Dark Energy Survey is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation, and the Dark Energy Camera science archive is curated by the Community Science and Data Center at NOIRLab.

The 4-meter Víctor M. Blanco Telescope was commissioned in 1974. It is a near twin of the Mayall 4-meter telescope on Kitt Peak. In 1995 it was dedicated and named in honor of Puerto Rican astronomer Víctor Manuel Blanco. It is also part of the Dark Energy Survey (DES), a visible and near-infrared survey that aims to probe the dynamics of the expansion of the Universe.

Víctor M. Blanco Telescope:

https://noirlab.edu/science/programs/ctio/telescopes/victor-blanco-4m-telescope

Image Credit: Dark Energy Survey/DOE/FNAL/DECam/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/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)

Release Date: Feb. 2, 2022

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #Galaxy #NGC1672 #Spiral #Barred #AGN #SeyfertType2 #Dorado #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #VictorBlancoTelescope #KPNO #NOIRLab #NSF #AURA #KittPeak #Arizona #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education