Even after thirty years, and with next-generation telescopes (like the James Webb) gobbling up all the attention, the Hubble Space Telescope still handles to inspire. Just recently, Hubble acquired an awesome picture of NGC 1961, an intermediate spiral nebula determining 220,000 light years in diameter and located about 180 million light-years away in the constellation Camelopardalis. Intermediate spiral galaxies are so-named since they are between “disallowed” and “unbarred” spiral galaxies, which suggests they do not have a distinct bar of stars at their.
The data utilized to develop this image came from 2 sources, the very first being a research study of previously-unobserved things belonging to the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies (or “Arp galaxies,” called after astronomer Halton Arp). The 2nd source consisted of observations made from the progenitors and surges of a variety of supernovae. Between 1998 and 2021, 4 supernovae were observed in NGC 1961 (SN 1998eb, SN 2001is, SN 2013cc, and SN 2021vaz), making it a high-value target for study.
The resulting image captures the dirty spiral arms, bright, hot star-forming areas of NGC 1961 and the galaxys radiant center that handles to outperform all the stars in its disk. This is an example of an active galactic nucleus (AGN), where the central area gives off incredible quantities of energy since it consists of a supermassive great void (SMBH) that feeds on the surrounding dust, gas, and stars in the core region.
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Numerous AGNs have actually been observed giving off intense jets of hot dust and gas that are sped up to relativistic speeds (a fraction of the speed of light). These jets can be seen countless light-years away and play a crucial role in a galaxys development. NGC 1961 is a fairly typical type of AGN that shines brilliantly but gives off low-energy-charged particles. It simply goes to show that the old workhorses never lose their mojo! They just keep providing well into their later years!
Additional Reading: NASA
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Just recently, Hubble obtained a breathtaking image of NGC 1961, an intermediate spiral galaxy determining 220,000 light years in diameter and situated about 180 million light-years away in the constellation Camelopardalis. Intermediate spiral galaxies are so-named because they are in between “disallowed” and “unbarred” spiral galaxies, which implies they dont have a well-defined bar of stars at their.
The information utilized to produce this image came from two sources, the very first being a research study of previously-unobserved objects belonging to the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies (or “Arp galaxies,” named after astronomer Halton Arp).