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Old 01-01-2011, 01:32 PM
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ngcles
The Observologist

ngcles is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Billimari, NSW Central West
Posts: 1,664
Hi Orestis & All,

Quote:
Originally Posted by orestis View Post
So Is all the dust in ngc 253 obscuring its true identity as a barred spiral or is it it our line of sight therefore making it look foreshortened?

cheers Orestis
It's a bit of both, but the problem is somewhat more to do with dust than line of sight. Most of that dust is very fine particles of simple silicate compounds (like SO2) and carbon mainly in the form of fullerenes. Of course at near IR wavelengths, this warm dust is all-but transparent revealing the true galactic structure.

Cool huh ? (well I think so but I'm pretty nerdy!)



Best,

Les D
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