Файл:NGC 6872.png

Something a little different. Instead of Hubble, this came from ESO. Specifically, from Paranal's FORS1 instrument. In 2010, ESO ran a Hidden Treasures contest just like the Hubble contest. First prize was a trip to Paranal. What!? I'm sorry I missed the contest completely! Anyway, this same galaxy (same data, too) has been featured on their site before so it isn't a hidden treasure itself, but it's been in the news lately.

Not knowing how to use ESO's public archive but wanting to learn, I ended up searching for this galaxy. The first rule of ESO's archive is there are no thumbnails. You just kind of guess what's there based on the coordinates and the exposure time, download the files en masse, and then browse their content on your own computer. You don't even get footprints! There is an xml file which you can open with Aladin which will plot a few dots for you, presumably at the coordinates the telescope was aimed at. Being a complete newbie, just seeing coordinates was not very helpful. I'm unfamiliar with the instruments so I don't know how much area they typically cover. I'm also a visual person if that wasn't obvious enough so working from just numbers takes extra effort.

Once I got the data sorted out, processing it is about the same as dealing with Hubble's. You have to clean up little black spots and things which look like hairs and dust. Each quarter of the image must be adjusted to match one another. Brighter stars bleed. Interestingly, the diffraction pattern (the colorful spikes seen around bright stars) is a bit different from what I've come to expect.

Wideband red, green, and blue filters were used to compose the image.

Red: R Band, VLT / FORS1

Green: V Band, VLT / FORS1 Blue: B Band, VLT / FORS1

North is NOT up. It is 20° clockwise from up.