Astronomers used the very large telescope of the Southern European Observatory (ESO’s VLT) to capture the most detailed and colorful images ever.
New images of the sculptor Milky Way (NGC 253), located 11 million light-years away, revealing the complex details of outstanding life and death by drawing light in thousands of different wavelengths – a feat that helps decode the structure and evolution of galaxies.
The galaxy of technology color
What happens when you look at red, green and blue galaxies? You get a time machine. “Galaxies are an incredibly complex system we are still struggling to understand,” said Eso, principal author of Eso of Eso of ESO. Astronomy and astrophysics.
Congiu’s team, using the Multi-Unit Spectroscopy Explorer (MUSE) instrument, spent over 50 hours collecting more than 100 exposures, pieced together the huge mosaics of NGC 253, a spiral galaxy bustling that plays star-shaped activities. result? A map covering 65,000 light years captures the composition, age and movement of stars and gases throughout the disk.
Zoom in, Zoom in: Map of range
“We can amplify studying individual regions where stars are almost the size of individual stars, but we can also amplify the entire galaxy,” explains Kathryn Kreckel, co-author of Heidelberg University.
The new data not only shows dazzling details. In the initial analysis, the researchers identified about 500 planetary nebula–the luminous shells of gases popping out from the dying stars (such as our sun). This is 20 times the previous classification in this galaxy.
Major findings from sculptor investigation
- The mosaic contains about 9 million spectra—each captures data from a small portion of the Milky Way.
- The team discovered ~500 planetary nebula, the largest sample ever found in the Milky Way.
- Planetary Nebula luminosity function (PNLF) shows that galaxies may be farther than previously thought – about 4.1 million passacs versus previous estimates of 3.5 million.
- The subtle offset of PNLF across regions indicates how dust and direction affects distance measurements.
Lights on a dusty mystery
From our perspective, the NGC 253 is almost edge-sided, and its disk is filled with dust. This makes accurate measurements tricky. “The sculptor’s galaxy is at its best,” Congiu notes. “It’s close enough that we can solve its internal structure…but at the same time, big enough that we can still think of it as a whole system.”
A key insight: The team found that the nebula near the center of the Galaxy seemed dim, possibly due to the obscure dust. This creates a difference in estimating distances in the Milky Way, suggesting why earlier studies returned inconsistent values. Correcting this region change helps to refine the distance estimates and emphasizes the importance of extensive sampling of galaxies, not just at its core.
Beyond the beautiful pictures
The thousand colors of images are not only for display, but are scientifically essential. Stars, dust, and gases all depend on their temperature and specific wavelengths of chemistry. The richer the spectrum, the better astronomers can decode what is happening in the Milky Way. “How such a small process has such a huge impact on a galaxy that is thousands of times larger in size is still a mystery,” Kangtu said.
Future work will use maps to study airflow, star formation cycles, and material popping out of star deaths may one day cause new stars, a full circle view of the lifespan of the Milky Way.
Then what will happen next?
The map is just the beginning. The team has collected over 300 GB of data and plans to delve into the sculptor Galaxy’s stellar population and dynamic interstellar medium. Can this new level of detail help solve the development of galaxies in cosmic time?
Astronomers may still be piecing together the big picture, but thanks to this detailed investigation, they have just added a vibrant new puzzle.
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