Star formation in NGC1566

The square shows the nearby galaxy NGC1566, also known as the Spanish Dancer. The galaxy was discovered by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop, but owes its nickname to its elegant, long spiral arms.
Royal Astronomical Society
Licence type
Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Title: Star formation in NGC1566

Description: The square shows the nearby galaxy NGC1566, also known as the Spanish Dancer. The galaxy was discovered by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop, but owes its nickname to its elegant, long spiral arms. 

Maker: Amelie Saintonge, Professor of Astrophysics at UCL

Techniques used: paper piecing and batik cotton fabric

Inspiration: Since most of my research revolves around the study of nearby galaxies, I wanted to make sure one of these beautiful objects was represented on the RAS quilt. To be very honest, I picked this specific galaxy because with only two, well-defined spiral arms, it looked easier to convert into patchwork than other more complex galaxies! Designing the pattern probably took more time than the actual execution, but was also the most challenging and enjoyable part. I combined Hubble Space Telescope and GALEX observations to create an image of the galaxy that captured the central barred region with the Active Galactic Nucleus, the dusty regions of star formation in the inner arms, and the very extended arms with clumps of new stars being born. Not easy to convey all of that complexity in only 50 or so pieces of fabric, but I am pleased with how it turned out!

Twitter: @ameliesaintonge