{"id":11363,"date":"2015-09-16T07:00:27","date_gmt":"2015-09-16T11:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11363"},"modified":"2015-09-14T23:05:35","modified_gmt":"2015-09-15T03:05:35","slug":"eso-the-sculptor-dwarf-galaxy-gives-clues-to-early-galaxy-and-star-formation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11363","title":{"rendered":"ESO: The Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy gives clues to early galaxy and star formation"},"content":{"rendered":"

ESO<\/a>\u00a0(European Southern Observatory) releases a new report:<\/p>\n

A Shy Galactic Neighbour<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy, pictured in this new image from the Wide Field Imager camera, installed on the 2.2-metre MPG\/ESO telescope at ESO\u2019s La Silla Observatory, is a close neighbour of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Despite their close proximity, both galaxies have very distinct histories and characters. This galaxy is much smaller and older than the Milky Way, making it a valuable subject for studying both star and galaxy formation in the early Universe. However, due to its faintness, studying this object is no easy task.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy, pictured in a new image from the Wide Field Imager camera, installed on the 2.2-metre MPG\/ESO telescope at ESO\u2019s La Silla Observatory, is a close neighbour of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Despite their proximity, both galaxies have very distinct histories and characters. This galaxy is much smaller, fainter and older than the Milky Way and appears here as a cloud of faint stars filling most of the picture. Many other much more distant galaxies can be seen shining right through the sparse stars of the Sculptor Dwarf.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy<\/a> \u2014 also known as the Sculptor Dwarf Elliptical or the Sculptor Dwarf Spheroidal \u2014 is a dwarf spheroidal galaxy<\/a>, and is one of the fourteen known satellite galaxies orbiting the Milky Way [1]<\/a>. These galactic hitchhikers are located close by in the Milky Way\u2019s extensive halo<\/a>, a spherical region extending far beyond our galaxy\u2019s spiral arms. As indicated by its name, this galaxy is located in the southern constellation of Sculptor<\/a> and lies about 280 000 light-years away from Earth. Despite its proximity, the galaxy was only discovered in 1937, as its stars are faint and spread thinly across the sky.<\/p>\n

Although difficult to pick out, the Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy was among the first faint dwarf galaxies found orbiting the Milky Way. The tiny galaxy\u2019s shape intrigued astronomers at the time of its discovery, but nowadays dwarf spheroidal galaxies play a more important role in allowing astronomers to dig deeply into the Universe\u2019s past.<\/p>\n

\"eso1536b[1]\"<\/a>
This chart shows the faint southern constellation of Sculptor (The Sculptor). All the stars visible to the naked eye on a clear dark night are shown and the position of the Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy is marked with a red circle. This nearby galaxy is extremely hard to see visually and was only discovered in 1937 on photographs. Credit: ESO\/IAU and Sky & Telescope<\/figcaption><\/figure>The Milky Way, like all large galaxies, is thought to have formed from the build-up of smaller galaxies during the early days of the Universe. If some of these small galaxies still remain today, they should now contain many extremely old stars. The Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy fits the bill as a primordial galaxy, thanks to a large number of ancient stars, visible in this image.<\/p>\n

Astronomers can determine the age of stars in the galaxy because their light carries the signatures of only a small quantity of heavy chemical elements. These heavy elements accumulate in galaxies with successive generations of stars. A low level of heavy elements thus indicates that the average age of the stars in the Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy is high.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>
This image of the sky around the Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy was created from pictures from the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The galaxy appears as a small faint cloud close to the centre of the picture.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This quantity of old stars makes the Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy a prime target for studying the earliest periods of star formation. In a recent study, astronomers combined all the data available for the galaxy to create the most accurate star formation history ever determined for a dwarf spheroidal galaxy. This analysis revealed two distinct groups of stars in the galaxy. The first, predominant group is the older population, which is lacking in heavier elements. The second, smaller population, in contrast, is rich with heavy elements. Like young people crowding into city centres, this youthful stellar population is concentrated toward the galaxy\u2019s core.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/cdn.eso.org\/videos\/medium_podcast\/eso1536a.m4v<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

This video zoom takes a closer look at the Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy, pictured in new image from the Wide Field Imager camera, installed on the 2.2-metre MPG\/ESO telescope at ESO\u2019s La Silla Observatory. This elusive galaxy is a close neighbour of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Despite their proximity, both galaxies have very distinct histories and characters. This galaxy is much smaller, fainter and older than the Milky Way. It appears here as a rich cloud of faint stars at the centre of the image at the start, and completely fills the frame later on. Here and there much more distant galaxies can be spotted between the stars of the Sculptor Dwarf.<\/em><\/p>\n

Credit:\u00a0<\/strong>DSS, ESO.\u00a0Music: Johan Monell\u00a0(www.johanmonell.com<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n

The stars within dwarf galaxies like the Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy can exhibit complex star formation histories. But as most of these dwarf galaxies\u2019 stars have been isolated from each other and have not interacted for billions of years, each collection of stars has charted its own evolutionary course. Studying the similarities in dwarf galaxies\u2019 histories, and explaining the occasional outliers, will help to explain the development of all galaxies, from the most unassuming dwarf to the grandest spirals. There is indeed much for astronomers to learn from the Milky Way\u2019s shy neighbours.<\/p>\n

Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a>[1] This faint galaxy should not be confused with the much brighter Sculptor Galaxy (NGC 253)<\/a> in the same constellation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ESO\u00a0(European Southern Observatory) releases a new report: A Shy Galactic Neighbour The Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy, pictured in this new image from the Wide Field Imager camera, installed on the 2.2-metre MPG\/ESO telescope at ESO\u2019s La Silla Observatory, is a close neighbour of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Despite their close proximity, both galaxies have very … Continue reading ESO: The Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy gives clues to early galaxy and star formation<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-astronomy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-2Xh","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8776,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=8776","url_meta":{"origin":11363,"position":0},"title":"The Lithium Problem and Messier 54","author":"TopSpacer","date":"September 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A new finding from the European Southern Observatory (ESO): This Star Cluster Is Not What It Seems This new image from the VLT Survey Telescope at ESO\u2019s Paranal Observatory in northern Chile shows a vast collection of stars, the globular cluster Messier 54. This cluster looks very similar to many\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"The globular star cluster Messier 54","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/eso1428a1-1024x970.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11879,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11879","url_meta":{"origin":11363,"position":1},"title":"ESO: A young dwarf galaxy emerges from the debris of a cosmic collision","author":"TopSpacer","date":"December 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The latest report from the\u00a0ESO\u00a0(European Southern Observatory): VLT Revisits a Curious Cosmic Collision The spectacular aftermath of a 360 million year old cosmic collision is revealed in great detail in new images from ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory. Among the debris is a rare and mysterious young\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"The spectacular aftermath of a 360 million year old cosmic collision is revealed in great detail in this image from ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory. Among the debris surrounding the elliptical galaxy NGC 5291 at the centre is a rare and mysterious young dwarf galaxy, which appears as a bright clump towards the right of the image. This object is providing astronomers with an excellent opportunity to learn more about similar galaxies that are expected to be common in the early Universe, but are normally too faint and distant to be observed by current telescopes.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/eso1547a1-1024x710.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12108,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=12108","url_meta":{"origin":11363,"position":2},"title":"ESO: Dustfree dwarf galaxy provides lessons on cosmic distances","author":"TopSpacer","date":"January 27, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"ESO\u00a0(European Southern Oberservatory) has a new report out: The Milky Way\u2019s Clean and Tidy Galactic Neighbour Many galaxies are chock-full of dust, while others have occasional dark streaks of opaque cosmic soot swirling in amongst their gas and stars. However, the subject of this new image, snapped with the OmegaCAM\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"This image, captured with the OmegaCAM camera on ESO\u2019s VLT Survey Telescope in Chile, shows an unusually clean small galaxy. IC 1613 contains very little cosmic dust, allowing astronomers to explore its contents with great clarity.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/eso1603a1-1024x697.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14315,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=14315","url_meta":{"origin":11363,"position":3},"title":"ESO: New infrared images clear up the Small Magellanic Cloud","author":"TopSpacer","date":"May 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The latest report from\u00a0ESO\u00a0(European Southern Observatory): VISTA Peeks Through the Small Magellanic Cloud\u2019s Dusty Veil The Small Magellanic Cloud galaxy is a striking feature of the southern sky even to the unaided eye. But visible-light telescopes cannot get a really clear view of what is in the galaxy because of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/eso1714a1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22531,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=22531","url_meta":{"origin":11363,"position":4},"title":"ESO: Very early galaxy looks surprisingly like our Milky Way","author":"TopSpacer","date":"August 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"A new report from the European Southern Observatory (ESO): ALMA sees most distant Milky Way look-alike Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter\/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is a partner, have revealed an extremely distant and therefore very young galaxy that looks surprisingly like our Milky\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/eso2013b1-500x500.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14022,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=14022","url_meta":{"origin":11363,"position":5},"title":"ESO: ALMA observes galaxy formed when the universe was very young","author":"TopSpacer","date":"March 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The latest report from\u00a0ESO\u00a0(European Southern Observatory): Ancient Stardust Sheds Light on the First Stars Most distant object ever observed by ALMA Astronomers have used ALMA to detect a huge mass of glowing stardust in a galaxy seen when the Universe was only four percent of its present age. This galaxy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/eso1708a1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11363"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11367,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11363\/revisions\/11367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}