The galaxy photographed by the world's largest telescope just because of its beauty

The Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Space Observatory in Chile is dedicated to research at the forefront of astronomical science. But if for some reason the observation targets cannot be viewed, the observer directs the largest telescope in the world towards educational targets - interesting astronomical bodies in the sky of the Southern Hemisphere, provided that they have not been photographed in high quality so far

This image of the spiral galaxy NGC 3981 was taken with the VLT telescope of the European Southern Observatory in Chile, ESO taking advantage of a time when the planned observations could not be made to study problems at the edge of the frontier of knowledge.

Because NGC 3981 is tilted relative to Earth, astronomers are able to look straight into the center of the galaxy. The bright center is dominated by a massive black hole. The image shows the galaxy's full giant spiral arms, which are star-forming regions full of dust. The disc itself is illuminated by a row of hot young stars. Part of the spiral arm appears stretched and distorted, perhaps due to an encounter with another galaxy at some time in the distant past.

NGC 3981 is 65 million light-years from Earth, but even at that distance it is still considered a neighbor of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. The large stars in the foreground of the image are stars in the Milky Way. Near the top of the image, in the twisted spiral arm, an asteroid is photographed as it passes. Like all astronomical images, this image was taken in three separate exposures of red, green and blue.

This extraordinary image was captured as part of ESO's Cosmic Gems program. This program uses the incredible power of the VLT to take images of the southern sky when observing conditions prevent it from observing its science targets.
Viewing time at telescopes like the VLT is allocated exclusively to researchers working on contemporary problems in astronomy and astrophysics. But sometimes clouds get in the way or the moon is too bright, and the researchers are forced to cancel the scientific observations. When this happens, the telescope is transferred to the Cosmic Gems program. ESO's Cosmic Gems program uses the observing time at the VLT to fulfill its education and public education mandate, as required by the European Union and the European Space Agency.

The directors of the program choose intriguing and visually interesting celestial objects, which have not been photographed in high quality so far. The images are available to the public and professional astronomers.

For more on the ESO website

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