"Galaxy NGC 253"

Tri-color on Technical Pan film - 16" f/4.5 Newtonian telescope - photo © Bill and Sally Fletcher

This beautiful spiral galaxy is found in the constellation Sculptor, in the direction of our galaxies south pole. A galaxy is like an "island in space" made up of more than a hundred billion stars. This galaxy is more than 25 million light years away from us. A light year is equal to 6 trillion million - the distance that light travels in one year. So the light captured on film for this photo left the galaxy 25 million years ago.

The older, cooler stars in the central core of the galaxy emit a more yellow-orange color. The hotter and brighter stars in the outer arms are blue and white. Many large regions of nebulosity can also be seen as pink or red regions.

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