NGC 2403

Click on image for larger version.

NGC 2403 is a showy face-on spiral galaxy in Camelopardalis (The Giraffe). In this galaxy many bright emission nebulae can be seen as bright pink regions in the spiral arms. This galaxy extends well beyond this field of view- note the very blue arms reaching towards the edges of the frame. This galaxy is estimated to be around 12 million light years away. It is associated with a nearby group of galaxies called the M81 group. (M81 is the largest galaxy in this group, follow the link to see a picture of it). The small images (below) show a small portion of the galaxy. These images are separated by about 1 year's worth of time. In the rightmost crop (from this recent image) you can a new "star" in what was once a blue patch in the galaxy. The blue patch is an unresolved cluster of young luminous stars. It seemingly miraculous transformation is due to one of these (massive) stars in the cluster blowing up! The supernova shown here will dim in subsequent months to once again show the blue patch again.
These small images show a small portion of the galaxy. They are separated by about 1 year's worth of time. In the rightmost crop (from this recent image) you can a new "star" in what was once a blue patch in the galaxy. The blue patch is an unresolved cluster of young luminous stars. It seemingly miraculous transformation is due to one of these (massive) stars in the cluster blowing up! The supernova shown here will dim in subsequent months to once again show the blue patch again.

Equipment

20in RC Optical Systems telescope Operating at f/5.5
Paramount ME Robotic Telescope Mount
SBIG ST10XME CCD camera with color filter wheel

L R G B color production was used to create this image.

Luminance = 75 minutes binned 1x1
 Red = 20 minutes binned 2x2
 Green = 20 minutes binned 2x2
 Blue = 20 minutes binned 2x2
  • Two iterations of L-R deconvolution (sharpening) algorithm using CCDsharp were applied to the luminance image.

  • Digital Development (DDP) via Maxim/DL was also used in order to display the the very dim and very bright details of the image simultaneously.

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    Minimum credit line: Fred Calvert/Adam Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF

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    Updated: 12/14/2004