Astronomers working with the Hubble telescope have published a new image. It shows the spiral galaxy LEDA 857074, in which a supernova has exploded.
The Hubble Space Telescope studies a huge number of celestial objects. Among them are galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, as well as planets in the Solar System and exoplanets. Observing programs usually aim to collect data to allow astronomers to answer a specific question of interest. Of course, this means that most of the planned observations are aimed at sites that have already been investigated previously.
Some of these objects are well known to amateur astronomers, such as the Crab Nebula or the Omega Centauri globular cluster. The others may be out of the focus, but still appear in hundreds of scientific papers. These include the Spider galaxy or the NGC 4753 galaxy.
The galaxy LEDA 857074 captured in the new image is different. It is mentioned in less than five papers, one of which is a database of galaxies. There is little data about it except its position and its status as a spiral galaxy with a bar. LEDA 857074 hasn’t been studied by anyone since its discovery. So how did it attract the attention of the legendary Hubble?
The supernova SN 2022ADQZ provides the answer. It was detected by an automated survey in late 2022, and Hubble was pointed at the host galaxy in early 2023. A supernova is a bright dot that can be seen near the galactic center.
As of today, astronomers have cataloged millions of galaxies, and therefore, although tens of thousands of supernovae are detected each year, there is little chance that one will be spotted in any particular galaxy. Scientists also don’t know how active LEDA 857074 is in forming stars, which means they don’t know how often supernovae flare in it. Thus, it will now receive much closer attention from astronomers.
According to Esahubble.org
