UA astronomer Donald W. McCarthy and graduate students Joannah Hinz and Rose Finn used an infrared electronic camera they designed to photograph Spiral galaxy NGC 7479 in the constellation Pegasus. Astronomy graduate student Phil Hinz combined two infrared images for a true color image that shows interesting structures at the very heart of the galaxy. However, NGC 7479's nucleus appears much more active, McCarthy said. In addition, a long bar-shaped structure and spiral arms that are not symmetrical are visible in its central region. These unusual features are attributed to the fact that NGC 7479 is cannibalizing another galaxy in a merger that began 5 million years ago.
Infrared light is much redder than the red light visible to the human eye.
Observations in infrared light enable astronomers to penetrate the obscuring dust in the spiral arms to examine the full extent and structure of the galaxy. The new image is very sharp, 0.80 arcsec, or the angular size of a dime seen from three miles away. That's 75 times sharper than the resolution of the human eye. If humans had eyes as sharp, people could read newspapers a half-mile away. It can be used on several telescopes in the Tucson area.