Galaxy NGC 1566 is a grand design spiral galaxy that we get to see face-on in the sky. Recently observed with the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, researchers find in the details of this system the remnants of a 2010 supernova, blue shining star formation regions, and a shining disc around the actively feeding black hole.

This galaxy was imaged as part of the Dark Energy Survey, which has been mapping large areas of the sky in ways that allow distant galaxies to be seen with never-before-imaged details. While the survey imaging ended in 2019, the research discoveries are just beginning.

This particular system is unlikely to bring us any deep insights on dark energy, but since surveys image everything in a region of the sky, they acquire data useful for, well, let’s call it off-label usage, and that’s what this is.

NGC 1566 is the dominant galaxy in a nearby galaxy group called the Dorado group. Its role in that group and its great alignment in the sky make it a great system to use to study what environmental conditions may lead to galaxies looking and acting in different ways, including looking at how its neighbors support NGC 1566’s grand spiral shape.

More Information

NOIRLab press release