NGC 3981 in the constellation of Crater
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ESO’s FORS2 instrument captures stunning details of spiral galaxy NGC 3981
FORS2, an instrument mounted on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, has observed the spiral galaxy NGC 3981 in all its glory. The image was captured as part of the ESO Cosmic Gems Programme, which makes use of the rare occasions when observing conditions are not suitable for gathering scientific data. Instead of sitting idle, the ESO Cosmic Gems Programme allows ESO’s telescopes to be used to capture visually stunning images of the southern skies.
This wonderful image shows the resplendent spiral galaxy NGC 3981 suspended in the inky blackness of space. This galaxy, which lies in the constellation of Crater (the Cup), was imaged in May 2018 using the FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph 2 (FORS2) instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT).
FORS2 is mounted on Unit Telescope 1 (Antu) of the VLT at ESO’s Paranal Observatory
in Chile. Amongst the host of cutting-edge instruments mounted on the
four Unit Telescopes of the VLT, FORS2 stands apart due to its extreme
versatility. This ”Swiss Army knife” of an instrument is able to study a
variety of astronomical objects in many different ways — as well as
being capable of producing beautiful images like this one.
The sensitive gaze of FORS2 revealed NGC 3981’s spiral
arms, strewn with vast streams of dust and star-forming regions, and a
prominent disc of hot young stars. The galaxy is inclined towards Earth,
allowing astronomers to peer right into the heart of this galaxy and
observe its bright centre, a highly energetic region containing a supermassive black hole.
Also shown is NGC 3981’s outlying spiral structure, some of which
appears to have been stretched outwards from the galaxy, presumably due
to the gravitational influence of a past galactic encounter.
NGC 3981 certainly has many galactic neighbours. Lying
approximately 65 million light years from Earth, the galaxy is part of
the NGC 4038 group, which also contains the well-known interacting Antennae Galaxies. This group is part of the larger Crater Cloud, which is itself a smaller component of the Virgo Supercluster, the titanic collection of galaxies that hosts our own Milky Way galaxy.
NGC 3981 is not the only interesting feature captured in
this image. As well as several foreground stars from our own galaxy, the
Milky Way, FORS2
also captured a rogue asteroid streaking across the sky, visible as the
faint line towards the top of the image. This particular asteroid has
unwittingly illustrated the process used to create astronomical images,
with the three different exposures making up this image displayed in the blue, green and red sections of the asteroid’s path.
This image was taken as part of ESO’s Cosmic Gems programme,
an outreach initiative to produce images of interesting, intriguing or
visually attractive objects using ESO telescopes, for the purposes of
education and public outreach. The programme makes use of telescope time
that cannot be used for science observations. In case the data
collected could be useful for future scientific purposes, these
observations are saved and made available to astronomers through ESO’s science archive.
More Information
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carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction
and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling
astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a
leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical
research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in
Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the
Very Large Telescope and its world-leading Very Large Telescope
Interferometer as well as two survey telescopes, VISTA working in the
infrared and the visible-light VLT Survey Telescope. ESO is also a major
partner in two facilities on Chajnantor, APEX and ALMA, the largest
astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to
Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre Extremely Large Telescope, the
ELT, which will become “the world’s biggest eye on the sky”.
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Contacts
Calum Turner
ESO Public Information Officer
Garching bei München, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6670
Email: pio@eso.org
Calum Turner
ESO Public Information Officer
Garching bei München, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6670
Email: pio@eso.org
Source: ESO/News
