Spiral Galaxy Messier 66: Multiple Wavelength Views by VLT & ALMA | ESO

Spiral Galaxy Messier 66: Multiple Wavelength Views by VLT & ALMA | ESO

This video shows images of Messier 66, also known as NGC 3627, a spiral galaxy located approximately 35 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo, taken at many different wavelengths of light. The observations were conducted with the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner.

The first two images are from the MUSE data. The first one, revealing the distribution of young stars, fades to a combined image that includes clouds of ionized hydrogen, oxygen and sulphur gas, marking the presence of newly born stars.

The next image shows the ALMA data only. ALMA was used to map cold clouds of molecular gas, which provide the raw material from which stars to form. Thousands of stars can form in just one of these molecular clouds, yet these stellar nurseries are invisible to the human eye—they can only be observed via the radio waves emitted by carbon monoxide (CO).

The following image is a combination of all the MUSE and ALMA data, forming a colorful cosmic firework, which is helping astronomers to unlock the secrets of star formation.

The images were taken as part of the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS) project, which is making high-resolution observations of nearby galaxies with telescopes operating across the electromagnetic spectrum.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/PHANGS

Duration: 17 seconds

Release Date: July 16, 2021

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #ESO #Galaxy #Spiral #M66 #Messier66 #LeoTriplet #Leo #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #VLT #MUSE #ALMA #Chile #Europe #UnitedStates #Astronomer #CharlesMessier #France #History #STEM #Education #HD #Video

A Dusty Beauty: Spiral Galaxy Messier 66 (ground-based view) | ESO

A Dusty Beauty: Spiral Galaxy Messier 66 (ground-based view) | ESO

NGC 3627 is also known as Messier 66. It is the 66th object in the famous catalog of nebulae by French astronomer Charles Messier (1730-1817). It is located in the constellation Leo (The Lion).

NGC 3627 is a beautiful spiral with a well-developed central bulge. It also displays large-scale dust lanes. Many regions of warm hydrogen gas are seen throughout the disc of this galaxy. The latter regions are being ionized by radiation from clusters of newborn stars. Very active star-formation is most likely also occurring in the nuclear regions of NGC 3627.

The galaxy forms, together with its neighbors M65 and NGC 3628, the so-called "Leo Triplet" ; they are located at a distance of about 35 million light-years. Messier 66 is the largest of the three. Its spiral arms appear distorted and displaced above the main plane of the galaxy. The asymmetric appearance is most likely due to gravitational interaction with its neighbors.

This photo of the spiral galaxy M66 (or NGC 3627) was obtained with the FORS1 and FORS2 multi-mode instruments (at VLT MELIPAL and YEPUN, respectively) on December 16-18, 2001. It is a composite of three exposures in different wavebands. North is towards upper left, West towards upper right.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/P. Barthel

Release Date: December 19, 2003

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #ESO #Galaxy #Spiral #M66 #Messier66 #LeoTriplet #Leo #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #VLT #Chile #Europe #UnitedStates #Astronomer #CharlesMessier #France #History #STEM #Education

Hubble Snaps Heavyweight Galaxy of The Leo Triplet: Messier 66

Hubble Snaps Heavyweight Galaxy of The Leo Triplet: Messier 66

Hubblecast 34: Hubble has snapped a spectacular view of M66, the largest "player" of the Leo Triplet, and a galaxy with an unusual anatomy: it displays asymmetric spiral arms and an apparently displaced core. The peculiar anatomy is most likely caused by the gravitational pull of the other two members of the trio.

Distance: about 35 million light-years

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)

Duration: 3 minutes, 41 seconds

Release Date: June 24, 2010

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Spiral Galaxy Messier 66: Heavyweight Champion of The Leo Triplet | Hubble

Spiral Galaxy Messier 66: Heavyweight Champion of The Leo Triplet | Hubble

Hubble has snapped a spectacular view of Messier 66 or M 66, the largest "player" of the Leo Triplet, and a galaxy with an unusual anatomy—it displays asymmetric spiral arms and an apparently displaced core. The peculiar anatomy is most likely caused by the gravitational pull of the other two members of the trio.

The unusual spiral galaxy, Messier 66, is located at a distance of about 35 million light-years in the constellation of Leo. Together with Messier 65 and NGC 3628, Messier 66 is the member of the Leo Triplet, a trio of interacting spiral galaxies, part of the larger Messier 66 group. Messier 66 wins in size over its fellow triplets—it is about 100,000 light-years across.

This is a composite of images obtained through the following filters: 814W (near infrared), 555W (green) and H-alpha (showing the glowing of the hydrogen gas). They have been combined so to represent the real colors of the galaxy.

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA) and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration. Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin and Robert Gendler

Release Date: April 8, 2010

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Galaxy #Spiral #M66 #Messier66 #LeoTriplet #Leo #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #LEGUS #SpaceTelescope #ESA #Europe #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Panning over Spiral Galaxy M66 | Hubble

Panning over Spiral Galaxy M66 | Hubble

The spiral galaxy Messier 66 is located at a distance of about 35 million light-years in the constellation of Leo (The Lion). Together with Messier 65 and NGC 3628, Messier 66 is a member of the Leo Triplet, a trio of interacting spiral galaxies.

Like all the galaxies in LEGUS, Messier 66 is undergoing vigorous star and star-cluster formation. One of the goals of LEGUS is to sample star-forming regions across each galaxy. Because the galaxies are relatively close to Earth, Hubble can resolve individual stars.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble

Duration: 26 seconds

Release Date: February 17, 2016

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Galaxy #Spiral #M66 #Messier66 #LeoTriplet #Leo #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #LEGUS #SpaceTelescope #ESA #Europe #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Zooming in on Spiral Galaxy Messier 66 | Hubble

Zooming in on Spiral Galaxy Messier 66 | Hubble

Zooming in on Messier 66, the largest galaxy within the Leo Triplet. M66 is located at a distance of about 35 million light-years in the constellation of Leo.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble

Duration: 56 seconds

Release Date: February 17, 2016

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Galaxy #Spiral #M66 #Messier66 #LeoTriplet #Leo #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #LEGUS #SpaceTelescope #ESA #Europe #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Galaxy Messier 66—Member of the Leo Triplet | Hubble

Galaxy Messier 66—Member of the Leo Triplet | Hubble

The spiral galaxy Messier 66 is located at a distance of about 35 million light-years in the constellation of Leo (The Lion). Together with Messier 65 and NGC 3628, Messier 66 is a member of the Leo Triplet, a trio of interacting spiral galaxies.

Like all the galaxies in LEGUS, Messier 66 is undergoing vigorous star and star-cluster formation. One of the goals of LEGUS is to sample star-forming regions across each galaxy. Because the galaxies are relatively close to Earth, Hubble can resolve individual stars.

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), and the LEGUS team

Release Date: May 17, 2018

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Galaxy #Spiral #M66 #Messier66 #LeoTriplet #Leo #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #LEGUS #SpaceTelescope #ESA #Europe #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Cosmic Keyhole: Another View of Reflection Nebula NGC 1999 | Hubble

Cosmic Keyhole: Another View of Reflection Nebula NGC 1999 | Hubble

This peculiar portrait from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope showcases NGC 1999, a reflection nebula in the constellation Orion. NGC 1999 is around 1350 light-years from Earth and lies near to the Orion Nebula, the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. NGC 1999 itself is a relic of recent star formation—it is composed of detritus left over from the formation of a newborn star.

Just like fog curling around a street lamp, reflection nebulae like NGC 1999 only shine because of the light from an embedded source. In the case of NGC 1999, this source is the aforementioned newborn star V380 Orionis which is visible at the center of this image. The most notable aspect of NGC 1999’s appearance, however, is the conspicuous hole in its center, which resembles an inky-black keyhole of cosmic proportions.

This image was created from archival Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 observations that date from shortly after Servicing Mission 3A in 1999. At the time, astronomers believed that the dark patch in NGC 1999 was something called a Bok globule—a dense, cold cloud of gas, molecules, and cosmic dust that blots out background light. However, follow-up observations using a collection of telescopes including the European Space Agency’s Herschel Space Observatory revealed that the dark patch is actually an empty region of space. The origin of this unexplained rift in the heart of NGC 1999 remains unknown.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, European Southern Observatory (ESO), K. Noll

Release Date: October 24, 2022

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Hubble #OrionNebula #Nebula #ReflectionNebula #NGC1999 #StarV380Orionis #Messier42 #M42 #Orion #Constellation #MilkyWay #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #WFPC2 #GSFC #STScI #ESO #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Up & Over: Spiral Galaxy NGC 3169 | Hubble

Up & Over: Spiral Galaxy NGC 3169 | Hubble

Every now and then, the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope glimpses a common object—say, a spiral galaxy—in an interesting or unusual way. A sharply angled perspective, such as the one shown in this image can make it seem as if we, the viewers, are craning our necks to see over a barrier into the galaxy's bright center. 

In the case of NGC 3169, this barrier is the thick dust embedded within the galaxy's spiral arms. Cosmic dust comprises a potpourri of particles, including water ice, hydrocarbons, silicates, and other solid material. It has many origins and sources, from the leftovers of star and planet formation to molecules modified over millions of years by interactions with starlight. 

NGC 3169 is located about 70 million light-years away in the constellation of Sextans (The Sextant). It is part of the Leo I Group of galaxies, which, like the Local Group that houses our home galaxy, the Milky Way, is part of a larger galactic congregation known as the Virgo Supercluster. 

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, L. Ho

Release Date: July 22, 2019

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Galaxy #Spiral #NGC3169 #LeoIGroup #VirgoSupercluster #Sextans #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Europe #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

China's Mengtian Lab Module to Launch by October's End | China Space Station

China's Mengtian Lab Module to Launch by October's End | China Space Station

China plans to launch the Mengtian lab module, the final component of the country's new space station, before the end of October 2022. The module has been assembled and is undergoing testing after being moved to the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China's Hainan Province in early August.

China's space station will be constructed into a T-shaped three-module structure, with the core module Tianhe in the center and the two lab modules, Wentian and Mengtian, on either side of it.

The Mengtian module is for microgravity research and is equipped with multi-disciplinary laboratory cabinets for fluid physics, materials and combustion science, basic physics and aerospace technology experiments.

Currently, China's space station consists of the core module, Wentian lab module and Tianzhou-4 cargo spacecraft, housing the Shenzhou-14 crew of three members.

Credit: China Global Television Network (CGTN)

Duration: 43 seconds

Release Date: October 22, 2022

#NASA #Space #China #中国 #Mengtian #梦天 #Wentian #问天实验舱 #Laboratory #CSS #ChinaSpaceStation #中国空间站 #Tianhe #天和核心舱 #Shenzhou14 #Taikonauts #Astronauts #ChenDong #LiuYang #CaiXuzhe #王亚平 #天宫 #CNSA #CMSA #国家航天局 #Science #Technology #Engineering #HumanSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Galactic Companions NGC 1510 & NGC 1512: Wide-field View (ground-based)

Galactic Companions NGC 1510 & NGC 1512: Wide-field View (ground-based)

This image shows the sky around the two interacting galaxies NGC 1512 and NGC 1510. NGC 1512 is clearly visible in the very center of the image.

The barred spiral galaxy NGC 1512 (left) and the dwarf galaxy NGC 1510 (right). Both galaxies are about 30 million light-years away from Earth and currently in the process of merging. At the end of this process NGC 1512 will have cannibalized its smaller companion.

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), Digitized Sky Survey 2

Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin

Release Date: July 27, 2017

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Galaxy #Galaxies #NGC1510 #NGC1512 #Horologium #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Europe #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Galaxy NGC 1512: Composite+Ultraviolet-Visible-Infrared Images | Hubble

Galaxy NGC 1512: Composite+Ultraviolet-Visible-Infrared Images | Hubble

This picture is a multi-wavelength composite made by seven individual exposures made with the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope. These exposures were taken by the Faint Object Camera (FOC), Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2), and the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS).

Astronomers have used this set of single-color images, shown around the edge, to construct the color picture (center) of a ring of star clusters surrounding the core of the galaxy NGC 1512. These pictures were taken by the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope's Faint Object Camera (FOC), Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2), and the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS).

Each image represents a specific color or wavelength region of the spectrum, from ultraviolet to near infrared, and shows the wide wavelength region covered by Hubble. Celestial bodies emit light at a variety of wavelengths, anywhere from gamma rays to radio waves. Astronomers chose to study NGC 1512 in these colors to emphasize important details in the ring of young star clusters surrounding the core.

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency, Dan Maoz (Tel-Aviv University, Israel, and Columbia University, USA)

Release Date: May 31, 2001

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Galaxy #NGC1512 #Ultraviolet #Infrared #Horologium #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Europe #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #Infographic #STEM #Education

Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1512: Ultraviolet, Infrared & Visible Light Views | Hubble

Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1512: Ultraviolet, Infrared & Visible Light Views | Hubble

Blending through seven individual exposures made with the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope. These exposures were taken by the Faint Object Camera (FOC), Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2), and the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS).

Distance: 30 million light years

The final image is a multi-wavelength composite made by seven individual exposures made with Hubble.

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), Dan Maoz (Tel-Aviv University, Israel, and Columbia University, USA)

Duration: 30 seconds

Release Date: October 24, 2017

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Galaxy #Galaxies #NGC1512 #Ultraviolet #Infrared #Horologium #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Europe #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

 Oct 24, 2017Oct 24,2017

Pan across Galaxies NGC 1512 & NGC 1510 | Hubble

Pan across Galaxies NGC 1512 & NGC 1510 | Hubble

This video pans over NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope observations of the interacting galaxies NGC 1512 and NGC 1510, about 30 million light-years from Earth. Despite the difference in size, each galaxy gravitationally affects the other. The ring of starburst and the bar in the center of the large spiral galaxy NGC 1512 are both in part created by the gravity of the much smaller NGC 1510.

The gas and dust in the smaller galaxy have been swirled up by NGC 1512. This kick-started star formation that is even more intense than in the large spiral galaxy. This causes the galaxy to glow with the blue hue that is indicative of hot new stars.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble, Digitized Sky Survey, Nick Risinger

Duration: 50 seconds

Release Date: July 27, 2017

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Galaxy #Galaxies #NGC1510 #NGC1512 #Horologium #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Europe #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Zooming onto the Galaxies NGC 1512 & NGC 1510 | Hubble

Zooming onto the Galaxies NGC 1512 & NGC 1510 | Hubble

This video zooms in from a view of the night sky, through the constellation of Horologium, to end on the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope observations of the interacting galaxies NGC 1512 and NGC 1510.

Distance: 30 million light years

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble, Digitized Sky Survey, Nick Risinger

Duration: 50 seconds

Release Date: July 27, 2017

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Galaxy #Galaxies #NGC1510 #NGC1512 #Horologium #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Europe #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1512 & Dwarf Galaxy NGC 1510 | Hubble

Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1512 & Dwarf Galaxy NGC 1510 | Hubble

This composite image, created out of two different pointings from Hubble, shows the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1512 (left) and the dwarf galaxy NGC 1510 (right). Both galaxies are about 30 million light-years away from Earth and currently in the process of merging. At the end of this process NGC 1512 will have cannibalized its smaller companion.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble, NASA

Release Date: July 27, 2017

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Galaxy #Galaxies #NGC1510 #NGC1512 #Horologium #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Europe #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education