File:Twins with differences (28265165379).jpg
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DescriptionTwins with differences (28265165379).jpg | This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows a spiral galaxy known as NGC 7331. First spotted by the prolific galaxy hunter William Herschel in 1784, NGC 7331 is located about 45 million light-years away in the constellation of Pegasus (The Winged Horse). Facing us partially edge-on, the galaxy showcases it’s beautiful arms which swirl like a whirlpool around its bright central region. Astronomers took this image using Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), as they were observing an extraordinary exploding star — a supernova — which can still be faintly seen as a tiny red dot near the galaxy’s central yellow core. Named SN2014C, it rapidly evolved from a supernova containing very little Hydrogen to one that is Hydrogen-rich — in just one year. This rarely observed metamorphosis was luminous at high energies and provides unique insight into the poorly understood final phases of massive stars. NGC 7331 is similar in size, shape, and mass to the Milky Way. It also has a comparable star formation rate, hosts a similar number of stars, has a central supermassive black hole and comparable spiral arms. The primary difference between our galaxies is that NGC 7331 is an unbarred spiral galaxy — it lacks a “bar” of stars, gas and dust cutting through its nucleus, as we see in the Milky Way. Its central bulge also displays a quirky and unusual rotation pattern, spinning in the opposite direction to the galactic disc itself. By studying similar galaxies we hold a scientific mirror up to our own, allowing us to build a better understanding of our galactic environment which we cannot always observe, and of galactic behaviour and evolution as a whole. |
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Source | Twins with differences |
Author | NASA Hubble Space Telescope |
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This image was originally posted to Flickr by NASA Hubble at https://flickr.com/photos/144614754@N02/28265165379 (archive). It was reviewed on 13 July 2018 by FlickreviewR 2 and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0. |
13 July 2018
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This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy.) | ||
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Credit/Provider | ESA/Hubble & NASA/D. Milisavljevic |
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Source | ESA/Hubble |
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Date and time of data generation | 06:00, 29 January 2018 |
JPEG file comment | This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows a spiral galaxy known as NGC 7331. First spotted by the prolific galaxy hunter William Herschel in 1784, NGC 7331 is located about 45 million light-years away in the constellation of Pegasus (The Winged Horse). We see it partially edge-on and this perspective showcases the galaxy’s beautiful arms, which swirl like a whirlpool around its bright central region. Even though NGC 7331 is a spiral galaxy like our galactic home, the Milky Way, it is actually quite different from it. NGC 7331 is an unbarred spiral galaxy — in other words, it lacks a “bar” of stars, gas and dust cutting through its nucleus, as we see in the Milky Way — and its central bulge displays a quirky and unusual rotation pattern, spinning in the opposite direction to the galactic disc itself. However, it is similar in size, shape, and mass to our own, has a comparable star formation rate and hosts a similar number of stars, has a central supermassive black hole as the Milky Way does, and has spiral arms that look quite like the Milky Way’s. This twinnish similarity is more than just an interesting fact — it’s actually very useful. It can be difficult for astronomers to study certain aspects of our own galaxy because we live inside it, but by studying similar galaxies we can build a better understanding of our own, and of galactic behaviour and evolution as a whole. This image was captured by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), which is able to observe light spanning the near-infrared, visible, and near-ultraviolet parts of the spectrum. |
Keywords | NGC 7331 |
Contact information |
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2 Garching bei München, , D-85748 Germany |
IIM version | 4 |