Tag: Galaxies

A celestial light show illuminates a distant spiral galaxy, where a hidden supernova briefly outshines its stellar neighbors in a new image from the Hubble Space Telescope. The galaxy, called NGC 1672, is a barred spiral galaxy located 49 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Dorado. Billions of stars fueled by hydrogen gas in the swirling arms glow brightly across the galaxy, with newly formed and extremely hot stars emitting powerful radiation that creates a vibrant red light, according to a statement from the European Space Agency (ESA). (Hubble…

The Milky Way’s system of small, orbiting satellite galaxies is quite unusual, a new 12-year study of other galaxies in the local universe has found.  The Satellites Around Galactic Analogs (SAGA) survey is being conducted by a small group of astronomers to learn how the Milky Way and its little retinue of dwarf satellite galaxies compares to other galaxy systems. “The Milky Way’s satellite population is a unique combination of small satellites containing only older stars, and its two largest satellites, which are actively forming new stars,” says Marla Geha,…

A galaxy is robbed of its gas and stars in a new image from the European Southern Observatory (ESO).  The spiral galaxy, called NGC 3312, lies within a large cluster known as Hydra I. Located over 160 million light-years from Earth, this cluster contains hundreds of galaxies, the largest of which is NGC 3312.  Using the ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at the Paranal Observatory in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, astronomers captured an up-close view of the spiral galaxy, which appears to be “spilling its contents into the…

The Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered an isolated cosmic fossil, which may offer new insight on galaxy formation.  Located about 3 million light-years from Earth, the Tucana Dwarf galaxy sits at the far edge of the Local Group of galaxies, which includes our Milky Way galaxy. This galaxy is home to older stars, leading researchers to believe it may contain traces from the early universe, according to a statement from NASA.  “Having such pristine properties enables scientists to use the Tucana Dwarf as a cosmic fossil,” NASA officials said in…