A close-up view from Hubble shows that NGC 253 is ablaze with the light from thousands of young, blue stars. The spiral galaxy is undergoing intense star formation. This image, taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys, reveals colors and differing intensities of individual stars as well dark filaments of dust and gas interstellar dust intersperced among the stars. NGC 253 is the dominant galaxy in the Sculptor Group of galaxies and resides about 13 million light-years from Earth.
This galaxy is part of a detailed survey called the ACS Nearby Galaxy Survey Treasury program (ANGST). The natural-color images were constructed using Hubble observations taken in infrared, visible, and blue light. Data from the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile were used to fill in small gaps in the Hubble image of NGC 253.
Credits
NASA, ESA, J. Dalcanton and B. Williams (University of Washington);Credit for ground-based data: T. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), T. Abbott, and NOAO/AURA/NSF
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | NGC 253 |
| Object Description | Spiral Galaxy in the Local Volume |
| R.A. Position | 00h 47m 33.11s |
| Dec. Position | -25° 17' 17.58" |
| Constellation | Sculptor |
| Distance | 13 million light-years |
| About The Data | |
| Instrument | HST>ACS and CTIO |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
