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The Spiral Galaxy M100 as Seen With the Hubble's Improved Vision
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By NASA
Hubble Space Telescope Home Hubble Captures a New View of… Hubble Space Telescope Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts News Hubble News Hubble News Archive Social Media Media Resources Multimedia Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts E-books Lithographs Fact Sheets Glossary Posters Hubble on the NASA App More Online Activities 2 min read
Hubble Captures a New View of Galaxy M90
This eye-catching image offers us a new view of the spiral galaxy Messier 90 from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Thilker, J This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the striking spiral galaxy Messier 90 (M90, also NGC 4569), located in the constellation Virgo. In 2019, Hubble released an image of M90 created with Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) data taken in 1994, soon after its installation. That WFPC2 image has a distinctive stair-step pattern due to the layout of its sensors. Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) replaced WFPC2 in 2009 and Hubble used WFC3 when it turned its aperture to Messier 90 again in 2019 and 2023. That data resulted in this stunning new image, providing a much fuller view of the galaxy’s dusty disk, its gaseous halo, and its bright core.
The inner regions of M90’s disk are sites of star formation, seen here in red H-alpha light from nebulae. M90 sits among the galaxies of the relatively nearby Virgo Cluster, and its orbit took M90 on a path near the cluster’s center about three hundred million years ago. The density of gas in the inner cluster weighed on M90 like a strong headwind, stripping enormous quantities of gas from the galaxy and creating the diffuse halo we see around it. This gas is no longer available to form new stars in M90, with the spiral galaxy eventually fading as a result.
M90 is located 55 million light-years from Earth, but it’s one of the very few galaxies getting closer to us. Its orbit through the Virgo cluster has accelerated so much that M90 is in the process of escaping the cluster entirely. By happenstance, it’s moving in our direction. Astronomers have measured other galaxies in the Virgo cluster at similar speeds, but in the opposite direction. As M90 continues to move toward us over billions of years, it will also be evolving into a lenticular galaxy.
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Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Oct 17, 2024 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center Hubble Space Telescope Science Mission Directorate Spiral Galaxies The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
Hubble Space Telescope
Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.
Messier 90
This beautiful spiral is expected to evolve into a lenticular galaxy.
Hubble’s Messier Catalog
Hubble’s Caldwell Catalog
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By NASA
Hubble Space Telescope Home Hubble Spots a Grand Spiral of… Hubble Space Telescope Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts News Hubble News Hubble News Archive Social Media Media Resources Multimedia Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts E-books Lithographs Fact Sheets Glossary Posters Hubble on the NASA App More Online Activities 2 min read
Hubble Spots a Grand Spiral of Starbursts
The glittering NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is of the spiral galaxy NGC 5248, also known as Caldwell 45. ESA/Hubble & NASA, F. Belfiore, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team The sparkling scene depicted in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is of the spiral galaxy NGC 5248, located 42 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Boötes. It is also known as Caldwell 45. The Caldwell catalog holds visually interesting celestial objects that are not as commonly observed by amateur astronomers as the more famous Messier objects.
NGC 5248 is one of the so-called ‘grand design’ spirals, with prominent spiral arms that reach from near the core out through the disk. It also has a faint bar structure at its center, between the inner ends of the spiral arms, which is not quite so obvious in this visible-light portrait from Hubble. Features like these which break the rotational symmetry of a galaxy have a huge influence on how matter moves through it, and eventually its evolution through time. They feed gas from a galaxy’s outer reaches to inner star-forming regions, and even to a galaxy’s central black hole where it can kick-start an active galactic nucleus.
These flows of gas have shaped NGC 5248 in a big way; it has many bright ‘starburst regions’ of intense star formation spread across its disk, which a population of young stars dominates. The galaxy even has two very active, ring-shaped starburst regions around its nucleus, filled with young clusters of stars. These ‘nuclear rings’ are remarkable enough, but normally a nuclear ring tends to block gas from getting further into the core of a galaxy. NGC 5248 having a second ring inside the first is a marker of just how forceful its flows of matter and energy are! Because the galaxy is relatively nearby, its highly visible starburst regions make the galaxy a target for professional and amateur astronomers alike.
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Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Oct 10, 2024 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center Hubble Space Telescope Spiral Galaxies The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
Hubble Space Telescope
Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.
Explore the Night Sky
Hubble’s Galaxies
Exploring the Birth of Stars
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By European Space Agency
A camera destined for the Moon became part of the astronauts’ toolkit during ESA’s latest PANGAEA geology training in Lanzarote, Spain.
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By NASA
Hubble Space Telescope Home Hubble Observes a Peculiar… Missions Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts News Hubble News Hubble News Archive Social Media Media Resources Multimedia Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts E-books Lithographs Fact Sheets Glossary Posters Hubble on the NASA App More Online Activities 2 min read
Hubble Observes a Peculiar Galaxy Shape
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the galaxy, NGC 4694. ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Thilker This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the galaxy, NGC 4694. Most galaxies fall into one of two basic types. Spiral galaxies are young and energetic, filled with the gas needed to form new stars and sporting spiral arms that host these hot, bright youths. Elliptical galaxies have a much more pedestrian look, and their light comes from a uniform population of older and redder stars. But some galaxies require in-depth study to classify their type: such is the case with NGC 4694, a galaxy located 54 million light-years from Earth in the Virgo galaxy cluster.
NGC 4694 has a smooth-looking, armless disk which — like an elliptical galaxy — is nearly devoid of star formation. Yet its stellar population is still relatively young and new stars are actively forming in its core, powering its bright center and giving it a markedly different stellar profile from that of a classic elliptical. Although elliptical galaxies often host significant quantities of dust, they generally do not hold the fuel needed to form new stars. NGC 4694 is filled with the hydrogen gas and dust normally seen in a young and sprightly spiral, and a huge cloud of invisible hydrogen gas surrounds the galaxy.
As this Hubble image reveals, NGC 4694’s dust forms chaotic structures that indicate some kind of disturbance. It turns out that the cloud of hydrogen gas around NGC 4694 forms a long bridge to a nearby, faint dwarf galaxy named VCC 2062. The two galaxies have undergone a violent collision, and the larger NGC 4694 is accreting gas from the smaller galaxy. This collision helped give NGC 4694 its peculiar shape and star-forming activity that classify it as a lenticular galaxy. Lenticular galaxies lack the unmistakable arms of a spiral, but still have a central bulge and disk. They also hold more star-forming gas than an elliptical galaxy. Some galaxies, like NGC 4694, aren’t as easy to categorize as one type or the other. It takes a bit more digging to reveal their true nature, and thanks to Hubble, we have the ability to uncover their secrets.
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Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Oct 04, 2024 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center Hubble Space Telescope Lenticular Galaxies Missions The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble
Hubble Space Telescope
Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.
Hubble on the NASA App
Hubble’s Galaxies
Hubble by the Numbers
View the full article
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By NASA
Hubble Space Telescope Home Hubble Captures Steller… Hubble Space Telescope Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts News Hubble News Hubble News Archive Social Media Media Resources Multimedia Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts E-books Lithographs Fact Sheets Glossary Posters Hubble on the NASA App More Online Activities 2 min read
Hubble Captures Steller Nurseries in a Majestic Spiral
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the spiral galaxy IC 1954. ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Thilker, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features the spiral galaxy IC 1954, located 45 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Horologium. It sports a glowing bar in its core, majestically winding spiral arms, and clouds of dark dust across it. Numerous glowing, pink spots across the disc of the galaxy are H-alpha regions that offer astronomers a view of star-forming nebulae, which are prominent emitters of red, H-alpha light. Some astronomers theorize that the galaxy’s ‘bar’ is actually an energetic star-forming region that just happens to lie over the galactic center.
The data featured in this image come from a program that extends the cooperation among multiple observatories: Hubble, the infrared James Webb Space Telescope, and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, a ground-based radio telescope. By surveying IC 1954 and over 50 other nearby galaxies in radio, infrared, optical, and ultraviolet light, astronomers aim to fully trace and reconstruct the path matter takes through stars, mapping the interstellar gas and dust in each galaxy. Hubble’s observing capabilities form an important part of this survey: it can capture younger stars and star clusters when they are brightest at ultraviolet and optical wavelengths, and its H-alpha filter effectively tracks emission from nebulae. The resulting dataset will form a treasure trove of research on the evolution of stars in galaxies, which Webb can build upon as it continues its science operations into the future.
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Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Sep 26, 2024 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Galaxies Hubble Space Telescope Spiral Galaxies Stars Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble
Hubble Space Telescope
Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.
Hubble’s Galaxies
Science Behind the Discoveries
Universe Uncovered
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