Hubble space telescope captures spiral galaxy with prominent bar | Science News

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured the barred spiral galaxy NGC 5335. The heart of the galaxy has a prominently visible central bar. The image has been selected as the Astronomy Picture of the Day.

Hubble’s capture of NGC 5335. (Image Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI).

New Delhi: The Hubble Space Telescope has captured an image of the barred spiral galaxy designated as NGC 5335, at a distance of 200 million lightyears in the constellation of Virgo. The galaxy spans some 170,000 lightyears, and has indistinct spiral arms. Because the spiral arms are not well defined, like the ones sported by ‘Grand Design’ spiral galaxy such as NGC 1637 or NGC 5643. NGC 5335 is considered to have flocculent spiral arms, that are patchy, irregular and fragmented. The galaxy has a fluffy or mottled appearance because the spiral arms are made up of short, disconnected segments, that host stellar nurseries or regions of active star formation.

The fringes of the galaxy has the younger, bluer stars, while the central regions house the older, redder and more evolved stars. The core of the galaxy has its most dramatic feature, which is a central bar structure extending from the galaxy to the supermassive black hole occupying its core. This bar structure is clearly visible in the image, is the most prominent feature of the galaxy, and reveals the architecture of the central bar in other galaxies. Such structures mediate the transport of gas and dust from the disk of the galaxy to the supermassive black hole at its core. About 30 per cent of the visible galaxies have a central bar, which are transient structures that form and disappear over about two billion years.

A signature of Hubble

NGC 1637, like most deep space targets of Hubble is sitting in a field of distant galaxies of all shapes and sizes, some of which are interacting. Some of these distant galaxies are even visible through the gap in the central regions of the galaxy. In the foreground, there are some stars that are closer to Earth that bear prominent, cross-shaped diffraction spikes. These features are caused by light interacting with the internal support structure of the telescope, and can be considered as a signature of Hubble.

Aditya has studied journalism, multimedia technologies and ᚨᚾᚲᛁᛖᚾᛏ ᚱᚢᚾᛖᛋ. He has over 10 years experience as a science and technology reporter, with a focus on space, AI, videogames, cybsersecurity and fundamental research. He is usually found playing with age inappropriate LEGO sets or sedentary games both new and old.

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