NGC 5078

This image shows us a section of the sky in the constellation “Hydra”. This zodiac sign is practically only easily observable from the southern hemisphere.

The special thing about these objects is that we see stars on them that are in the immediate vicinity, i.e. a few light years away. In the background you can see milky ways, which are just recognizable as dark red dots. These Milky Ways are shifted far into the red light due to the enormous distance. The distance is over 8 billion light years!

No other picture on my website shows such enormous contrasts in terms of distance.

The two main objects are NGC 5101 (top right) and NGC 5058. Both are Milky Ways, similar to the “ours” in which we live. Their light, which Eric collected over a period of almost 30 hours in his observatory in Australia, comes from a time when the Mediterranean had just formed on Earth and when there were no Alps. So about 100 million years ago.

At 5058, we can see it quite precisely from the side (edge position), and at 5101 almost directly from “above”. Both are barred spiral galaxies.

All in all, the saying by the most important cosmologist of the Renaissance, Giordano Bruno, applies to this picture: “The sun with its planets is only one of myriads of stars in a universe that knows no boundaries”.

This photo was also published by NASA

Coordinates:
RA: 13h 19m 50.0s
DC: -27° 24′ 37″

Exposure time:
30 hours

Award:
NASA (APOD)