The darkest nights can yield some bright surprises like this view of a
spiral galaxy taken at the Kitt Peak National Observatory
The darkest
nights can yield some bright surprises like this view of a spiral galaxy taken at the Kitt Peak
National Observatory.
This image depicts the spiral galaxy IC 342, which sits some 11 million
light-years from Earth towards the constellation
Camelopardalis (the Giraffe) in a neighboring clutch of galaxies to our own
Milky Way’s Local Group.
The distance between IC 342 and Earth is so vast, that light from the galaxy
diminishes before it reaches astronomers waiting on Earth, making the availability
of dark night observations all the more precious.
Astronomers released this image Wednesday
in conjunction with the opening of “The Night: Why Dark Hours Are So Important,”
a two-day symposium at the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C.
“Without
all of the interstellar gas and dust between us and IC 342, it would be one of
the brightest galaxies in our night skies and a favorite target for backyard
astronomers,” said astronomer Travis Rector, of the University of Alaska Anchorage. “Being able to produce an image like this, through all that obscuring gas and
dust, demands dark night skies like those still found in Arizona at Kitt Peak, which are crucial for making observations of this depth and sensitivity.”
A 2006
study of southern Arizona’s dark skies found that the effective enforcement of
the region’s Outdoor Lighting Code in Pima County, public education and the
minimization of light-intensive pollution land use near Kitt Peak should stabilize
light pollution in the region, though other Arizona observatories face significant
threats without similar action.
-- SPACE.com Staff
Credit: T.A. Rector/University of Alaska Anchorage, H. Schweiker and NOAO/AURA/NSF.
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