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A Former User last edited by
Panta rhei — motion in the Milky Way
Although it currently lies on the outskirts of the Milky Way’s halo, Palomar 12 was not born here. When astronomers first studied this cluster, they were puzzled by its strangely young age when compared to the other clusters in the galaxy. It appeared to be around 30% younger than other Milky Way globulars. Surely if it had been born within our galaxy, it would have sprung to life at a similar time to its cluster companions?
A bit more digging revealed that Palomar 12 was actually ripped from its initial home, the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical galaxy, around 1.7 billion years ago via tidal interactions between its former home and our galaxy. The dwarf galaxy that Palomar 12 once called home is a satellite galaxy to ours, and closely orbits around us — even occasionally passing through the plane of our galaxy. In fact, it is being slowly torn apart and consumed by the Milky Way.
Distance: 60000 light years
Constellation: CapricornusCoordinates
Position (RA): 21 46 38.18
Position (Dec): -21° 15' 5.98''
Field of view: 3.11 x 3.39 arcminutes
Orientation: North is 26.4° left of verticalColours & filters
Band Wavelength Telescope
Infrared:
814 nm Hubble Space Telescope
ACS
Optical:
606 nm Hubble Space Telescope
ACS -
A Former User last edited by
My latest:
A bit dark, eh?
Tried to preserve the sun's shape, on purpose. -
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:whistle: