From The European Southern Observatory
This is the field around the spiral galaxy NGC 4945. It is assembled from five 15-minute R(ed)-narrowband (shown in red), four 5-minute B(lue)-band (shown in green), and five 1000-second U(ltraviolet)-band (shown in blue) exposures, obtained in January 1999 during the Science Verification phase with the Wide-Field-Imager (WFI) at the MPG/ESO 2.2-m telescope at La Silla. At the recession velocity of NGC 4945, the red filter, centered at 665 nm with an FWHM (full width at half maximum) of only 1.2 nm, does not include the Ha emission line of interstellar hydrogen in this galaxy. The original resolution of about 1 arcsec corresponds to roughly 62 light-years at the distance of NGC 4945 (13 million light-years).
In addition to NGC 4945 itself, some much more distant galaxies can be recognized as faint, slightly red light patches in the field. The vast majority of the point-like sources are stars in the Milky Way. However, a fair number of those near NGC 4945 are globular clusters belonging to this galaxy. The field covers 32 arcminx 32 arcmin. East is to the left and North to the top.
Based on press release with ESO PR Photo 18a/99
Catalog #:Photo 18a/99
Target Name: Portrait of a Nearby Spiral Galaxy
Last modified on Sunday, December 17, 2000