A spiral
galaxy glows with ultraviolet, green, and deep red light in this first-ever
"binocular" light image taken by a telescope.
The Large
Binocular Telescope (LBT) at Mount Graham, Arizona, used twin 27.6 foot (8.4 meter)
primary mirrors to capture three false-color images of galaxy NGC 2770. The
achievement marks a milestone for both LBT and the field of astronomy itself,
according to the U.S., Italian, and German collaborators,
who also note that LBT is now the world's most powerful telescope.
The
ultraviolet and green lights emphasize the clumpy regions of newly birthed
stars in the spiral arms, while the deep red shows the smoother distribution of
older, cooler stars. The galaxy is 102 million light years from our Milky Way, appearing as
a flat disk of stars that tips slightly towards our line of sight.
—University of Arizona and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: University of Ariz./INAF/LBTB/OSU//Research
Corp
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