NASA releases stunning new images for Hubble telescope’s ‘galaxy week’
Jack Birle
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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration released five stunning new images from the Hubble Space Telescope this week in honor of the telescope’s “galaxy week.”
The images show various types of galaxies across the universe, and the space agency touted the new images from the 33-year-old space telescope.
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The first image was of NGC 4654, which is a “vibrant virgo cluster galaxy,” according to the space agency.
“NGC 4654 is one of many Virgo Cluster galaxies that have an asymmetric distribution of stars and of neutral hydrogen gas,” the space agency said in a blog post.
The second image released by the space agency was of NGC 612, which is a lenticular galaxy, according to NASA.
“NGC 612 is classified as a lenticular galaxy, a type that typically contains older stellar populations and little ongoing star formation. Lenticulars have a central bulge and disk like spiral galaxies, but they lack the characteristic arms,” NASA said in a post on X.
The third image released by NASA was of the NGC 6951, which the space agency says is an intermediate spiral galaxy located 78 million light-years away from Earth.
“At the center of NGC 6951 lies a supermassive black hole surrounded by a ring of stars, gas, and dust about 3,700 light-years across. This ‘circumnuclear ring’ is between 1 and 1.5 billion years old and has been forming stars for most of that time,” NASA said in a blog post.
The fourth image released by NASA was of the NGC 1087, which is a barred spiral galaxy located 80 million light-years away from Earth.
“The galaxy’s dust lanes, seen in dark red, help define its spiral structure. NGC 1087’s stellar bar — the elongated, bright-white structure at the galaxy’s center — is also shorter compared to other barred galaxies. Typically, in barred galaxies, the gravity of the center pulls in large quantities of gas, causing a burst of star formation followed by a slow decay. Uniquely, NGC 1087 shows signs of new star formation, making it of special interest to scientists,” NASA said in a blog post.
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The fifth image released by NASA was of the NGC 5068, which is a barred spiral galaxy that is 20 million light-years away from Earth.
“At the top center of this image lies NGC 5068’s bright central bar, a densely packed region of mature stars. A black hole lurks behind the bar, tugging the stars together with its intense gravitational pull. The bright pinkish-red splotches along the bottom and sides of the image are regions of ionized hydrogen gas where young star clusters lie,” NASA said in a blog post.