NGC 253, a starburst galaxy

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On the left, you see an image of the spiral galaxy NGC 253, taken with a ground-based telescope. The galaxy is located about 8 million light-years away in the constellation Sculptor.

On the right is the NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of the core of NGC 253 revealing violent star formation within a region 1,000 light-years across.

Side by side image of NGC253. On the left the image was taken froma ground based telescope, the image on the right was taken by Hubble Space Telescope

Credit for ground-based image: Jay Gallagher (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Alan Watson (Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, AZ), and NASA

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The StarChild site is a service of the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC), within the Astrophysics Science Division (ASD) at NASA/ GSFC.

StarChild Authors: The StarChild Team
StarChild Graphics & Music: Acknowledgments
StarChild Project Leader: Dr. Laura A. Whitlock
Curator: J.D. Myers
Responsible NASA Official: Amber Straughn