By ESA/Hubble
January 9, 2022
Galaxy NGC 976 imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: ESA/Hubble & & NASA, D. Jones, A. Riess et al
. The slackly winding spiral arms of the amazing galaxy NGC 976 fill the frame of this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This spiral galaxy lies around 150 million light-years from the Milky Way in the constellation Aries. In spite of its peaceful look, NGC 976 has actually played host to among the most violent huge phenomena known– a supernova surge. These cataclysmicly violent occasions take place at the end of the lives of enormous stars, and can outperform whole galaxies for a short period. While supernovae mark the deaths of massive stars, they are likewise responsible for the development of heavy components that are included into later generations of stars and planets.
Supernovae are likewise a beneficial help for astronomers who determine the ranges to faraway galaxies. The amount of energy tossed out into space by supernova surges is extremely consistent, permitting astronomers to approximate their ranges from how intense they seem when viewed from Earth. This image– which was produced using data from Hubbles Wide Field Camera 3– comes from a large collection of Hubble observations of neighboring galaxies which host supernovae along with a pulsating class of stars called Cepheid variables. Both Cepheids and supernovae are used to measure huge ranges, and galaxies including both items provide beneficial natural labs where the 2 techniques can be calibrated against one another.