If not perfect, then this
spiral galaxy is at least one of the most photogenic. An
island universe of about 100 billion stars, 30 million light-years away toward the
constellation Pisces, NGC 628 or
M74 presents a gorgeous face-on view to earthbound astronomers.
Classified as an Sc galaxy, the grand design of M74's graceful spiral arms traced by bright blue star clusters and dark cosmic dust lanes, is similar in many respects to our own home galaxy, the
Milky Way. Recorded with a 28 million
pixel detector array, this impressive
image celebrates first light for the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (
GMOS), a state-of-the-art instrument now operational at the 8-meter Gemini North telescope. The Gemini North Observatory gazes into the skies above
Mauna Kea, Hawaii, USA, while its twin observatory,
Gemini South, is scheduled to begin operations later this year from Cerro Pachn in central Chile.
Evrim Ağacı
