The Cosmic Steering Wheel: Galaxy NGC 1269 in Eridanus | Victor Blanco Telescope

The Cosmic Steering Wheel: Galaxy NGC 1269 in Eridanus | Victor Blanco Telescope

This image of NGC 1269 was taken utilizing the Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera (DECam), mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at NSF Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a Program of NSF NOIRLab. 

NGC 1269 is an early-type spiral galaxy located about 33 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Eridanus. A bar, a feature common to many spiral galaxies, slices through the center of the galaxy. Surrounding the galactic core are both inner and outer disks, seeming to form ‘wheels’ around the core. Their presence is thought to be the result of a merger with another galaxy, and the inner disk is also believed to have been further shaped by density waves radiating outward from the galactic center. 

Data for this image came from the archive of the Dark Energy Survey (DES), operated by the DOE and NSF between 2013 and 2019 with the specially-designed DECam. The survey sought to study the nature of the elusive dark matter by imaging hundreds of millions of galaxies. Today, the DECam is available to other scientists for use on the Blanco telescope.

Dark Energy Camera (DECam)

https://noirlab.edu/public/programs/ctio/victor-blanco-4m-telescope/decam/

Learn about the Víctor M. Blanco Telescope:
https://noirlab.edu/science/programs/ctio/telescopes/victor-blanco-4m-telescope

Credit: Dark Energy Survey/DOE/FNAL/DECam/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
Image Processing: R. Colombari & M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)
Release Date: Feb. 25, 2026

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