NGC 253: Spiral Galaxy in Sculptor

Click on image for larger version.

NGC 253 is a nearby galaxy at a distance of approximately 8 million light years away. The galaxy is some 60,000 light years in diameter- and its full disk extends beyond the field of view shown here. However, at this resolution (click on image) you can make out many features of this galaxy including: clumpy and dark clouds of gas, bright blue and white star clouds, and pink HII (clouds of molecular hydrogen) regions which are tremendous stellar nurseries . Also note the small galaxy just "above" the disk at the top right of the image.

Equipment

20in RC Optical Systems telescope Operating at f/8.4
Paramount ME Robot
SBIG ST10XME CCD camera with color filter wheel

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

Luminance = 45 minutes binned 1x1
 Red = 10 minutes binned 2x2
 Green = 10 minutes binned 2x2
 Blue = 10 minutes binned 2x2
  • The above exposure times refer each of the two frames for this mosaic.
  • Three 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: Doug Matthews/Adam Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF

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    Updated: 10/23/2002