The stellar stream in the halo of nearby dwarf starburst galaxy NGC 4449 was detected in deep integrated-light images from the Black Bird Remote Observatory. Mouse-over the image to view an inset that resolves the stream into its constituent stars.Click the image for a larger view.

This image was produced with a half meter RCOS telescope, Apogee Alta U16M camera and Astrodon E-Series filters. Exposure times were 1,080 minutes Luminance, 240 minutes Red, 240 minutes Green, 240 minutes Blue (All 1X1). Black Bird observations were conducted over a series of nights spanning April 13 through June 10, 2010 and again between January 13 and January 28, 2011


Image copyright ©2009- 2012 R Jay GaBany

The River of Stars Around NGC 4449


An investigation by:
David Martínez-Delgado: (Max-Planck-Institut fur Astronomy; Aaron Romanowsky: (University of California); R. Jay GaBany: (Black Bird Observatories); Francesca Annibali: (Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna); Jacob A. Arnold: (University of California); Juergen Fliri: (Paris Observatory- GEPI); Stefano Zibetti: (Dark Cosmology Centre Niels Bohr Institute); Roeland P. van der Marel: (Space Telescope Science Institute); Hans-Walter Rix: (Max-Planck-Institut fur Astronomy); Taylor S. Chonis: (University of Texas); Julio A. Carballo-Bello: (Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias); Andrea V. Maccio: (Max-Planck-Institut fur Astronomy); J.Gallego-Laborda: (Fosca Nit Observatory); Alessandra Aloisi: (Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna); Jean P. Brodie: (University of California); Michael R. Merrifield: (University of Nottingham)


Place your mouse over the image, left, produced by the half-meter Blackbird Observatory telescope and explore a magnified view of NGC 4449 and its river of stars as seen by the 8.2 meter Subaru telescope and Suprime-Cam (NAOJ).


  • Download the full resolution version of the scientific paper (PDF)
  • Click here for a larger view of the image
  • Also read: The Big Deal About Dwarf Galaxies
  • Also read: The Formation and Evolution of Galaxies







  • Other popular images


    Home page