It’s not every day we get to see a visual of the entire Sculptor Galaxy, located approximately 10-11 million light-years from Earth, in all its kaleidoscopic splendour.
Luckily for us, astronomers have created a magnificent visual map of the spiral galaxy, also known as NGC 253, using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) located in Chile. In a new study published in Astronomy and Astrophysics, researchers used the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument on the telescope to valiantly observe the Sculptor Galaxy for 50 hours. Then, they merged 100 images into one dazzling map.
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ESO researcher Enrico Congiu led the study alongside Kathryn Kreckel and Fabian Scheuermann from Heidelberg University, Adam Leroy from Ohio State University, and a large team of researchers from all over the globe. In a statement, Congiu explained why the 65,000 light-years-wide system is so visually appealing to astronomers despite being a challenging task.
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