Astronomers Unveil Stunning Photo of Spiral Galaxy
On Wednesday, astronomers in Chile revealed a glimpse at Sculptor, a spiral galaxy that is 11 million light-years away. The massive galaxy stretches a span of about 65,000 light-years.
According to Marcia Dunn of the Associated Press, scientists used the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope to capture the stunning image.
The galaxy, which is officially named NGC 253, was observed for around 50 hours and 100 exposures were put together to create the picture.
'The Sculptor galaxy is in a sweet spot,' leading researcher Enrico Congiu said. 'It is close enough that we can resolve its internal structure and study its building blocks with incredible detail, but at the same time, big enough that we can still see it as a whole system.'
Scientists also revealed that Sculptor, which is considered a starburst galaxy, contains thousands of different colors.
According to NASA, starburst galaxies see star formation "at a tremendous rate," and that leads to an accelerated use of the gas in the galaxy. Many hot blue stars with short lifespans are created as a result of this process.
There are believed to be two different causes for these starburst galaxies, including "gravitational interactions with other galaxies" and "when gas is packed into a small region."
Astronomers Unveil Stunning Photo of Spiral Galaxy first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 18, 2025
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