Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument’s Lenses See First Light
On April 1, the Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak emerged from hibernation—its dome reopened to the night sky, and starlight poured through the six large lenses of its powerful new research tool: the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). Early next year, DESI will begin the greatest cosmic cartography experiment attempted to date, surveying 40 million galaxies and quasars out to a distance of 10 billion light years, and 10 million stars in our Galaxy. DESI's commissioning camera captured this image of the Whirlpool Galaxy, a.k.a. M51.
Credit:DESI Collaboration
About the Image
Id: | noaoann19007a |
Type: | Observation |
Release date: | April 4, 2019 |
Related announcements: | noaoann19007 |
Size: | 1200 x 799 px |
About the Object
Name: | M51, Whirlpool Galaxy |
Constellation: | Canes Venatici |
Category: | Galaxies |
Wallpapers
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Coordinates
Position (RA): | 13 29 53.49 |
Position (Dec): | 47° 11' 54.20" |
Field of view: | 6.82 x 4.54 arcminutes |
Orientation: | North is 180.5° left of vertical |
Colors & filters
Band | Tele-scope |
---|---|
Optical | Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope Mosaic II |