The latest Hubble observations uncover new details about the universe
posted Monday, March 20, 2023 at 11:40 AM EDT
Move over, James Webb Space Telescope, the venerable Hubble Space Telescope still has much to offer. NASA has announced that Hubble recently spotted an irregular galaxy that showcases an impressive, imposing star-forming region.
As seen on Space.com, the new Hubble photo captures NGC 5486, a roughly spiral galaxy located within the constellation Ursa Major. NGC 5486 is about 110 million light-years from Earth.
Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Kilpatrick
The galaxy is categorized as "irregular" because it has meandering, indistinct spiral arms. It's located relatively near the much larger Pinwheel Galaxy, previously a stunning subject of Hubble's.
In Hubble's new photo of NGC 5486, significant debris is visible. This debris is left behind by Type II supernovae. Put another way, when massive stars reach the end of their lifecycle, they experience bombastic supernova explosions. These explosions are critical to the universe's evolution over time, as just before supernova explosions, stars produce huge amounts of gas and dust.
In 2004, NGC 5486 played host to a supernova explosion. Astronomers used Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys to investigate the explosion's aftermath with hopes of learning more about the lives of stars and, perhaps more importantly, their deaths.
Hubble has also recently captured an image of a diminutive dwarf galaxy. The galaxy, UGCA 307, comprises a "diffuse band of stars containing red bubbles of gas that mark regions of recent star formation and lies roughly 26 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Corvus."
Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Tully
UGCA 307 appears as just a small patch of stars. It has no defined structure and looks rather hazy. The image was captured as part of Hubble's long-term, ongoing project to explore "every known nearby galaxy." Before its latest observations, Hubble had investigated nearly three-quarters of nearby galaxies "in enough detail to spot the brightest stars and build up an understanding of the stars populating each galaxy." The remaining quarter will be observed during short gaps in Hubble's otherwise busy schedule.
The image was captured using Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys. The camera was installed on Hubble in 2002 during a serving mission. The camera replaced the Faint Object Camera.