NGC 253

This beautiful Milky Way is quite close to ours, as it unfolds its full splendor in the constellation of the Sculptor at just under 12 million
light years. We are not very familiar with it in our latitudes, as this constellation barely rises above the horizon.

In this image, which has a total exposure time of almost 20 hours, this galaxy is shown in the apparent size of the moon.

We see many young hot star populations (blue fields) and the royally residing “old lords” of the star clusters in golden yellow color.

The special thing about this Milky Way is that you can see a very impressive band of dust here. This galactic dust is “sacred” for every galaxy, as it gives rise to new star systems, among other things.

On prolonged observation, one gets the impression that some of these dust structures flow out of the Milky Way at right angles to the longitudinal axis like “chimney smoke”.

In the background there are numerous other Milky Ways, but they can only be recognized as tiny, comma-like structures, as they are several billion light years away.

This image has also been published by NASA.

Coordinates:
RA: 00h 47m 33,120s
DC: -25° 17′ 17,59″

Exposure time:
35 hours

Award:
NASA (APOD)