Silver Galactic Sliver

The Silver Sliver Galaxy — more formally known as NGC 891 — is shown in this striking image from the Mosaic instrument on the 4-meter Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. NGC 891 is a spiral galaxy that lies almost perfectly edge-on to us, leading to its elongated appearance and its striking resemblance to our home galaxy, the Milky Way, as seen from the Earth. Since NGC 891 is oriented edge-on, it’s great for investigating the galactic fountain model. When stellar winds and supernovae from the disk of a galaxy eject gas into the surrounding medium, it can create condensation that rains back down onto the disk. The condensed gas then provides new fuel for star formation. In addition to the portrait of NGC 891, this image is littered with astronomical objects near and far — bright foreground stars from our own galaxy intrude upon the view of NGC 891 and distant galaxies lurk in the background.

Credit:

KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA 
Acknowledgments: PI: M.T. Patterson (New Mexico State University)
Image processing: Travis Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), Mahdi Zamani & Davide de Martin

About the Image

Id:iotw2023a
Type:Observation
Release date:June 3, 2020, 5 a.m.
Size:4179 x 3295 px

About the Object

Name:NGC 891
Constellation:Andromeda
Category:Galaxies

Image Formats

Large JPEGLarge JPEG
4.0 MB
Screensize JPEGScreensize JPEG
208.0 KB

Zoomable


Wallpapers

1024x7681024x768
247.3 KB
1280x10241280x1024
367.0 KB
1600x12001600x1200
502.0 KB
1920x12001920x1200
586.6 KB
2048x15362048x1536
4.3 MB

Coordinates

ObjectValue
Position (RA):2 22 32.05
Position (Dec):42° 20' 50.26"
Field of view:18.23 x 14.38 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 90.0° right of vertical


Colors & filters

BandWave-lengthTele-scope
Optical
U
355 nmNicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope
Mosaic I
Optical
B
438 nmNicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope
Mosaic I
Optical
R
651 nmNicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope
Mosaic I
Optical
H-alpha
657 nmNicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope
Mosaic I