I think I can see my house from here
Posted 06.01.2011 at 10:49 am
8 Comments
NGC 6744
Like looking into a mirror.
ESO
Today in pretty space pics, the Wide Field Imager attached to the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile offers us this bird’s-eye view of . . . our own galaxy? The spiral-armed galaxy you see here is not the Milky Way--though it might easily be mistaken for it--but a nearby galaxy known as NGC 6744 that is something of a galactic doppelgänger to our own home galaxy.
NGC 6744 is about 30 million light years away, but from our vantage point here on Earth we view it almost face on, offering us a fantastic view of the spiraling star cluster from a nearly ideal position. It is one of the closest and largest spiral galaxies--it’s actually twice as big as the Milky Way--and offers astronomers a nice observable analog to our own galaxy and the way things tend to organize themselves in such systems.
What’s more, its closeness to our own galaxy coupled with its brightness (about 60 billion suns) make it very visible in the southern sky. Amateur astronomers with even low-power telescopes should be able to see it as an ovular hazy patch with a bright center about twice the size of the moon. Of course, if you point a 2.2-meter professional ‘scope at it, the results are even more impressive.
Get your new Milky Way-mimicking wallpaper here.
[ESO]
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now tell me where are all the little green men
Why is there a bright object in the center of this galaxy? Shouldn't there be a black hole where no light escapes like ours?
to answer your question on why there is a bright object, its because there are millions of stars right orbiting a giant black hole. giving it the effect of a giant object.
Wonder if there is a doppelgänger earth in that galaxy.
incredible. 60 billion suns? imagine how much life must flourish there. the numbers are mind numbing. i wonder if life there is taking the same pic right this moment. and marveling at the Milky Way.
-it’s actually twice as big as the Milky Way-
60 billion suns
I thought the milky way had more like a hundred billion stars. Maybe they meant that the Milky Way is twice as big?
I do believe the "60 billion suns" is actually a measure of brightness, not quantity. After all, they're stars not suns.
Just googled and I do believe it's being used as a unit of solar luminosity.
@ Fallacy
oh ok. that makes sense since all stars are not considered suns. "suns" have planets revolving around it. i guess the author used is as a brightness reference.