March 10, 1999
If the universe seems cold from a distance, birthdays are part of its rebuttal.
NGC 2997 from VLT
Birthday · March 10, 1999
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
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APOD published March 10, 1999. Credit: European Southern Observatory. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Add another 8-meter telescope to the list of modern optical telescope giants. Kueyen achieved a first-light photograph of a bright star on March 1, ahead of schedule. The above picture of spiral galaxy NGC 2997 was taken with Antu, the first of the four planned Very Large Telscopes (VLTs) being built in Chile for the European Southern Observatory. NGC 2997 is a thin spiral galaxy tilted about 45 degrees with a bright compact nucleus and prominent lanes of dark dust.
Image credit: European Southern Observatory