A Galaxy of Birth and Death

Noirlab_iotw2221a_1024

noirlab_iotw2221a May 25th, 2022

Credit: KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M. T. Patterson (New Mexico State University)Image processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), M. Zamani & D. de Martin (NSF NOIRLab)

Captured by the Mosaic camera on the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), a Program of NSF NOIRLab, the spiral galaxy NGC 2403, also known as Caldwell 7, highlights the dynamic birth and death of stars. The glowing red spots dotting the galaxy are clouds of ionized hydrogen gas known as HII regions. These areas indicate the birth of young, hot stars, which often ionize nearby hydrogen gas during their dynamic formation. Conversely NGC 2403 has also been the home of the brightest and nearest observed death of a star this millennium: the supernova SN 2004dj. The region in NGC 2403 that contained the star which became a supernova in 2004 had been observed both before, during and after the explosion, providing a fascinating timeline of the impact of the event. Since star formation occurs on a timescale much longer than a human lifetime, the process has to be pieced together like a puzzle through observations of different stars in different stages of the stellar life cycle. It is very satisfying for astronomers to be able to observe supernovae, which occur incredibly quickly even by human standards, to confirm and develop theories of the life cycle of stars.

Provider: NOIRLab

Image Source: https://noirlab.edu/public/images/iotw2221a/

Curator: NSF's NOIRLab, Tucson, AZ, USA

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
NGC 2403
Noirlab_iotw2221a_128
 

Position Details Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 7h 36m 50.7s
DEC = 65° 35’ 28.1”
Orientation
North is 0.3° CCW
Field of View
28.9 x 20.3 arcminutes
Constellation
Camelopardalis

Color Mapping Details Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red KPNO-4m (Mosaic I) Optical (H-alpha) 656.0 nm
Yellow KPNO-4m (Mosaic I) Optical (R) 644.0 nm
Cyan KPNO-4m (Mosaic I) Optical (B) 438.0 nm
Purple KPNO-4m (Mosaic I) Optical (U) 355.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Yellow
Cyan
Purple
Noirlab_iotw2221a_1280
×
ID
iotw2221a
Subject Category
Subject Name
NGC 2403
Credits
KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M. T. Patterson (New Mexico State University)Image processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), M. Zamani & D. de Martin (NSF NOIRLab)
Release Date
2022-05-25T12:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://noirlab.edu/public/images/iotw2221a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope, Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope, Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope, Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope
Instrument
Mosaic I, Mosaic I, Mosaic I, Mosaic I
Color Assignment
Red, Yellow, Cyan, Purple
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
H-alpha, R, B, U
Central Wavelength
656, 644, 438, 355
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
None, None, None, None
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
114.211350938, 65.5911477472
Reference Dimension
6631.0, 4662.0
Reference Pixel
3315.5, 2331.0
Scale
-7.26314332158e-05, 7.26314332158e-05
Rotation
0.27999999999999992
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
NSF's NOIRLab
URL
https://noirlab.edu
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
950 North Cherry Ave.
City
Tucson
State/Province
AZ
Postal Code
85719
Country
USA
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
NSF's NOIRLab
Publisher ID
noirlab
Resource ID
iotw2221a
Metadata Date
2020-03-12T14:54:02+01:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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