COLLECTION NAME:
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection
Record
Title:
NGC 3621: Far Beyond the Local Group
Explanation:
Far beyond [ http://arxiv.org/ab… ] the local group [ http://www.anzwers.… ] of galaxies lies NGC 3621 [ http://www.seds.org… ], some 22 million light-years away. Found in the serpentine southern constellation Hydra [ http://www.astronom… ], the loose spiral arms of this gorgeous island universe [ http://www.astr.ua.… galaxies.text ] are loaded with luminous young star clusters and dark dust lanes. Still, for earthbound astronomers NGC 3621 is not just another [ http://antwrp.gsfc.… ] pretty face-on spiral galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.… ]. Some of its brighter stars [ http://www.ipac.cal… ] have been used as standard candles [ http://www.powersof… ] to establish [ http://oposite.stsc… background.html ] important estimates of extragalactic distances [ http://casswww.ucsd… Distances.html ] and the scale of the Universe [ http://antwrp.gsfc.… ]. This color picture was constructed from astronomical image data recorded with the Very Large Telescope Antu [ http://antwrp.gsfc.… ], at Paranal Observatory in Chile. At the original resolution, individual, hot supergiant stars [ http://www.usm.uni-… windsfromhotstars/winds.html ] can be identified and studied across NGC 3621.
Credit and Copyright:
F. Bresolin [ http://www.ifa.hawa… ], R.-P. Kudritzki, R. Mendez (Institute for Astronomy [ http://www.ifa.hawa… ], Univ. Hawaii)
keyword:
distance determination
facet_where:
Chile
facet_what:
Hydra
UID:
SPD-APOD-ap020605
Link To Source
