Hubble Space Telescope picture of the spiral nebula NGC 5495. Credit: ESA/Hubble & & NASA, J. Greene
This spectacular image, by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescopes Wide Field Camera 3, reveals the stately sweeping spiral arms of the spiral nebula NGC 5495. NGC 5495, which lies roughly 300 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Hydra, is a Seyfert galaxy, a type of galaxy with an incredibly bright central region. These very luminous cores– understood to astronomers as active galactic nuclei– are dominated by the electro-magnetic radiation released by dust and gas falling under a supermassive great void.
Astronomers studying supermassive great voids lurking in the hearts of other galaxies captured a series of observations, including this image. Examining the main areas of galaxies can be particularly tough: along with the light developed by matter falling into supermassive black holes, areas of star formation, and the light from existing stars all contribute to the brightness of stellar cores. Thanks to Hubbles crystal-clear vision, astronomers were able to disentangle the various sources of light at the core of NGC 5495. This permitted them to weigh its supermassive black hole specifically.
For NGC 5495, 2 excellent interlopers are noticeable in this image. One is simply outside the center of NGC 5495, and the other is extremely prominent alongside the galaxy. While they share the very same location on the sky, these items are much closer to Earth than NGC 5495: they are stars from our own Milky Way. The brilliant stars are surrounded by criss-cross diffraction spikes. These are optical artifacts developed by the internal structure of Hubble connecting with starlight.
By ESA/Hubble
September 25, 2022
NGC 5495, which is located approximately 300 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Hydra, is a Seyfert galaxy, a type of galaxy with an incredibly brilliant main area. Thanks to Hubbles crystal-clear vision, astronomers were able to disentangle the various sources of light at the core of NGC 5495. One is simply outside the center of NGC 5495, and the other is extremely popular together with the galaxy.