Distribution of cold gas clouds scattered in the massive spiral galaxy “M99” observed by ALMA | sorae Portal Site to Space

This is a spiral galaxy about 49 million light-years away in the direction of the Coma Berenices.「NGC 4254」he is. In Messier’s catalog compiled by the French astronomer Charles Messier in the eighteenth century,「M99 （Messier 99）」registered as.

Since the M99 has distinct screw arms (spiral arms), there are clearly visible screw arms.“Great Design Spiral Galaxy”(Design of a large spiral galaxy). However, since this image is a close-up of the galactic center, the spiral arms are only visible halfway.

M99 pictured, respectivelyTwo blue and red colored spiral structuresThey appear to be stacked. According to the European Southern Observatory (ESO), which released the image, the blue and violet are ESO.Very Large Telescope (VLT)Wide field of view spectral monitoring equipment has been installed in“Meditation”Red and orange are the radio telescopes in Chile.ALMA telescopeCorresponds to the distribution of the cold gas cloud obtained in. Clouds of cold gas can eventually collapse and form new stars. Comparing the two observations will give us a better understanding of how stars form.

This image is an observational project targeting galaxies in the nearby universe.「PHANGS」(Physics at high angular resolution in nearby galaxies). In addition to the very large telescope equipped with MUSE and ALMA, the PHANGS project includes NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA)“Hubble”A space telescope will also participate. Over five years, high-resolution observations using electromagnetic waves of different wavelengths have been made to understand star formation in galaxies. The first image was released as ESO’s Image of the Week on October 24, 2022.

[▲ مجرة ​​حلزونية “M99 (NGC 4254)” تم تصويرها بواسطة تلسكوب هابل الفضائي (Credit: ESA / Hubble & NASA، M. Kasliwal، J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team)]

Connection:Large design spiral galaxy M99 photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope

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• Image Credit: ESO / PHANGS
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Text / Matsumura Takehiro