ESO269-57

ESO 269-57 is a spectacular spiral galaxy of symmetrical shape in the
southern constellation Centaurus and belongs to a well-known cluster
of galaxies seen in this direction. The galaxy received this
designation when it was catalogued during the first ESO Survey of the
Southern Sky in the 1970's.

PR Photo 20c/99 shows the complex structure of ESO 269-57, with an
inner "ring", of several tightly wound spiral arms, surrounded by two
outer ones that appear to split into several branches. Many blue and
diffuse objects are visible - most are star-forming regions. The
galaxy type is Sa(r). The velocity is just over 3100 km/sec,
indicating a distance of about 155 million light-years. It extends
over about 4 arcmin in the sky, corresponding to nearly 200,000
light-years across. Many other galaxies are visible in the background.

In this and the other photos, the vertical lines extending from the
images of some bright stars result from a "bleeding" effect in the CCD
detector where the pixels are completely saturated.

This three-colour composite (BVR) was obtained with VLT ANTU and FORS1
in the morning of March 27, 1999. The full field measures 6.8 x 6.8
arcmin2. North is up and East is to the left.