NGC 3034

(M82)

Images of a Starburst Galaxy in the Constellation Ursa Major

by Leah Simon and Nazlm Osmanclk


 


 


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Right Ascension

09 : 55.8 (h:m)

Declination

+ 69 : 41 (deg:m)

Distance

12 million ly

Apparent Magnitude

8.4

Apparent Dimension

9' x 4'

                                                                                    

                                                                  

 

 

NGC 3034 "THE EXPLODING GALAXY"


                                                                                                                

 



                                                                                                         

Above are four images of NGC 3034. We can clearly see the interstellar gas and dust around the galaxy's center (the dark band across the center). The other bright objects in the images are background and or foreground stars.

 

 

 

WHAT IS NGC 3034?

NGC 3034 is an irregular starburst galaxy interacting with two neighboring galaxies, M31 and NGC 3077. This interaction is causing vast amounts of new star formation at the center of NGC 3034. Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope recently discovered over a hundred young globular clusters most likely caused by tidal interactions with M81, the most recent of which occurred between 50 and 600 million years ago. The interactions of these three galaxies are not detectable at optical wavelengths, but are quite apparent in the radio and infrared.  This radio noise is coming from hydrogen gas that is connecting the three galaxies together, implying ongoing gravitational interaction.

 

IMAGING PROCEDURE

Three images were taken on the night of March 14, 2001 at 9:30 pm at the Macalester College Observatory using the 16'' DFM telescope with the ST-6 CCD camera. Each image was taken with a different color filter, one red, one blue, one green with an exposure time of 180 seconds. We also took a dark frame in order to capture the background electrical noise and subtract it from our image. Then, we took flatfields in order to eliminate the effects of dust particles on the lens of the CCD camera. Finally, we combined the dark-framed and flat-fielded red, blue and green filtered images using intensity factors of 1.00, 2.00 and 1.50 for each one respectively in order to get a proper balance of colors. The resulting RGB combined image is displayed above.

 

Links to more images of NGC 3034:

1. M81 & M82           2. NGC 3034a           3. NGC3034b            4. NGC3034c-Hubble Image