The Unfurling Spiral Arms of NGC 3981
This unbarred spiral galaxy in the constellation Crater features a bright central core, where a supermassive black hole lies, surrounded by a disk of hot, young stars and spiral arms laced with streams of dust and more young stars. The irregular, outstretched shape of its arms is likely due to gravitational influence from an encounter with one of its galactic neighbors. NGC 3981 is a member of the NGC 4038 Group of galaxies, which also contains the well-known interacting Antennae Galaxies. The NGC 4038 Group is a small component of the Virgo Supercluster, the immense collection of galaxies that hosts our own Milky Way Galaxy.
The unfurling arms of NGC 3981 appear to dissolve right into the cosmos in this image captured by the DOE-built Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at the U.S. National Science Foundation Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Program of NSF NOIRLab.
Credit:Dark Energy Survey/DOE/FNAL/DECam/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
Image processing: R. Colombari & M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab)
About the Image
Id: | iotw2425a |
Type: | Observation |
Release date: | June 19, 2024, noon |
Size: | 2582 x 2882 px |
About the Object
Name: | NGC 3981 |
Distance: | 65 million light years |
Constellation: | Crater |
Category: | Galaxies |
Wallpapers
Coordinates
Position (RA): | 11 55 58.58 |
Position (Dec): | -19° 53' 57.62" |
Field of view: | 11.40 x 12.75 arcminutes |
Orientation: | North is 90.2° right of vertical |
Colors & filters
Band | Wave-length | Tele-scope |
---|---|---|
Optical g | 471 nm | Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope DECam |
Optical i | 782 nm | Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope DECam |