December 23, 2024

Hubble Space Telescope Spies a Tenuous Diffuse Galaxy

By ESA/Hubble
April 24, 2022

This image comes from a set of Hubble observations designed to clarify the properties of ultra-diffuse galaxies. Hubbles eager vision enabled astronomers to study GAMA 526784 in high resolution at ultraviolet wavelengths, assisting to evaluate the sizes and ages of the compact star-forming areas studding the galaxy.

Hubble Space Telescope caught GAMA 526784, an ultra-diffuse galaxy that appears as a rare spot of light in this image. Ultra-diffuse galaxies such as GAMA 526784 have a number of peculiarities. Another peculiarity of this class of galaxies is their uncommon abundance of intense globular clusters, something not observed in other types of galaxies.

Hubble Space Telescope captured GAMA 526784, an ultra-diffuse galaxy that appears as a rare spot of light in this image. Ultra-diffuse galaxies such as GAMA 526784 have a number of peculiarities.
In this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, the ultra-diffuse galaxy GAMA 526784 looks like a hazy patch of light. This wispy things is located in the constellation Hydra, approximately four billion light-years far from Earth.
Ultra-diffuse galaxies such as GAMA 526784 have a number of peculiarities. For example, their dark matter abundance can be either very low or extremely high– ultra-diffuse galaxies have actually been observed with a practically complete absence of dark matter, whereas others are consisted of nearly nothing however dark matter. Another peculiarity of this class of galaxies is their unusual abundance of brilliant globular clusters, something not observed in other kinds of galaxies.
Hubble captured GAMA 526784 with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), which was installed in 2002 by astronauts throughout Hubble Servicing Mission 3B. Because then, the instrument has played an essential role in a few of Hubbles many remarkable scientific results, consisting of catching the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. The ACS has likewise photographed Pluto in advance of the New Horizon objective, observed giant gravitational lenses, and found fully formed galaxies in the early Universe.