Hubble Captures Detailed Image of Edge-On Spiral Galaxy NGC 3175 | Astronomy – Sci-News.com
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has delivered an incredible snapshot of a nearby spiral galaxy called NGC 3175.
NGC 3175 can be seen slicing across the frame in this Hubble image, with its mix of bright patches of glowing gas, dark lanes of dust, bright core, and whirling, pinwheeling arms coming together to paint a beautiful celestial scene. This image is made up of observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) in the infrared and optical parts of the spectrum. 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 / D. Rosario et al.
NGC 3175 is an edge-on spiral galaxy located in the constellation of Antlia.
Otherwise known as ESO 436-3, LEDA 29892 and UGCA 207, the galaxy is approximately 54 million light-years away from Earth.
NGC 3175 was discovered on March 30, 1835 by the English astronomer John Herschel.
The object is the eponymous member of the NGC 3175 group of galaxies.
“Galaxy groups are some of the most common galactic gatherings in the cosmos, and they comprise 50 or so galaxies all bound together by gravity,” the Hubble astronomers explained.
“A galaxy group to which NGC 3175 belongs is a nearby analogue for the Local Group, which contains our Milky Way Galaxy and around 50 others — a mix of spiral, irregular, and dwarf galaxies.”
“The NGC 3175 group contains a couple of large spiral galaxies: the subject of this image and NGC 3137.”
The group also contains several low mass spiral galaxies and over 500 dwarf galaxies.
According to the astronomers, NGC 3175’s dwarf neighbors are much smaller than the dwarf satellites of the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy.
