Gemini Uncovers 'Lost City' of Stars

A wide-field view of NGC 300 as obtained by the Anglo-Australian Observatory (AAO) by David Malin is paired with extremely deep Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) images (inset). The AAO image is cropped to the approximate minimum extent of the outer disk of faint stars as imaged by Gemini South in the "exploded" inset. The Gemini images reveal individual stars down to about magnitude 27 (3 sigma) in two r-band images that each have a combined exposure/integration of 8,100 seconds (2.25 hours). The Gemini images were obtained under excellent conditions that were necessary to obtain such deep images; image quality is ~ 0.6" FWHM. Gemini inset field is approximately 5.5' x 10.5'. (The small dark areas in the Gemini images are shadows from instrument "guide-probes.")