strictlyastronomy: The European Southern Observatory's VLT Survey Telescope brings us a spectac
strictlyastronomy:The European Southern Observatory's VLT Survey Telescope brings us a spectacular new view of the Triangulum Galaxy. Also known as Messier 33 and NGC 598, this galaxy is one of our nearest cosmic neighbors, located about three million light-years away in the small northern constellation of Triangulum. It is a spiral galaxy with a surprisingly low mass and almost absent central bulge. The new image beautifully highlights its massive star clusters, dust clouds, and brilliant, glowing red regions of hydrogen gas ionized by the powerful ultraviolet light of newborn stars. The VST, used to obtain the image, is a state-of-the-art 2.6-metre telescope at the ESO observatory perched atop Cerro Paranal in northern Chile. -- source link
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