Hubble Space Telescope Captures Beautiful Image of NGC 2906 | Astronomy – Sci-News.com
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a vivid image of a star-forming spiral galaxy called NGC 2906.
This Hubble image shows NGC 2906, a spiral galaxy located 145 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the visible and near-infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) instrument. Two filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / A. Filippenko.
NGC 2906 lies in the constellation of Leo, approximately 145 million light-years away from Earth.
Also known as LEDA 27074, UGC 5081 and SDSS J093206.21+082630.3, this galaxy has a diameter of 35,000 light-years.
It was discovered by the German-born British astronomer William Herschel on December 28, 1785.
Hubble astronomers observed NGC 2906 on the hunt for fading light from recent, nearby occurrences of objects known as supernovae.
“The blue speckles seen scattered across this galaxy are massive young stars,” they said.
“These stars emit hot, blue-tinged radiation as they burn through their fuel at an immense rate.”
“The swathes of orange are a mix of older stars that have swollen and cooled, and low-mass stars that were never especially hot to begin with.”
“Owing to their lower temperatures, these stars emit a cooler, reddish, radiation.”
