Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik
Deutsche Version MPE HEG X-Ray Astronomy Wave ROSAT Gallery ROSAT Calendar Images 2000
X-ray color image of the galaxy NGC 253
This X-ray image of the galaxy NGC 253 seen edge-on was taken with the PSPC camera of the ROSAT observatory. The overlayed ellipse indicates the optical extension of the galaxy. NGC 253 is featured by strong star formation in the central region combined with intensive X-ray emission. Crosses show the positions of the point sources detected with ROSAT. The hottest sources in the image crop up in blue, an indication of a hard absorbed spectrum. Diffuse emission of hot interstellar gas in the inner spiral arms appears in yellow, the emission of the slightly cooler halo gas in red. The gap between disk and halo gas in the upper right corner (NW) indicates that the radiation from the northwestern half of the halo is absorbed by the dense interstellar medium of the galaxy disk lying in front of the it.
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ROSAT (Röntgensatellit) 2000
Images from the X-ray sky with the ROSAT telescope · All rights reserved:
© Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Postfach 1603, 85740 Garching, Germany.
The X-ray images are produced by the SASS/EXSAS software MPE, ESO-MIDAS.
The ROSAT project is managed by the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR), Germany on behalf of the Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft, Forschung und Technologie (BMBF).
© X-Ray Group at MPE (group)
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