MUSE colour-coded image of NGC 4650A

This colour composite of the unusual polar ring galaxy NGC 4650A was created from data from the new MUSE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. For each part of this spectacular galaxy this new instrument splits the light up into its component colours — revealing in detail the chemical and physical properties of each point. This picture is based on a mosaic of three MUSE datasets that were obtained soon after the instrument achieved first light in early 2014.

To make this picture selected regions of the spectrum were extracted to form a single colour image. In addition the glowing star formation regions in the unusual disc around the galaxy have been colour coded to represent their velocities — blue regions are approaching, relative to the centre of the galaxy, and red regions receding due to the rotation of the disc.