While the public’s attention is focused on James Webb, Hubble continues to conduct its observations. The other day, the space telescope sent an amazing photo of the spiral galaxy NGC 5495. The galaxy is located about 319 million light-years away in the constellation Hydra. This galaxy, also known as ESO 511-10, IRAS 14095-2652 and LEDA 50729, was discovered on May 13, 1834 by English astronomer John Herschel.
NGC 5495 is also classified as a Seyfert galaxy, meaning a type of galaxy with a particularly bright central region where powerful gas emissions occur at speeds of 300-5000 km/s. “These shining cores – known as active galactic nuclei – are dominated by light emitted by dust and gas entering a supermassive black hole,” Hubble astronomers reported.
In addition to the light generated by matter falling into supermassive black holes, star formation regions and the light of existing stars also contribute to the increased brightness of galactic nuclei. Hubble’s crystal-clear vision itself helped astronomers separate the various light sources in NGC 5495’s core, allowing them to accurately weigh its supermassive black hole at the center.
In addition to NGC 5495, two very bright stars are visible in the image. One is located near the center of the galaxy, and the other is an incredibly bright object to the right of the galaxy. These stars are much closer to Earth than NGC 5495 because they are located directly in our Milky Way galaxy.
Earlier we reported on how Hubble will watch DART hit the target.
According to Hubble
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