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Grand Swirls from NASA's Hubble
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Space / 2017-12-08

Grand Swirls from NASA's Hubble

Grand Swirls from NASA's Hubble

NASA's image library records Grand Swirls from NASA's Hubble.

WHY IT’S INTERESTING

This new Hubble image shows NGC 1566, a beautiful galaxy located approximately 40 million light-years away in the constellation of Dorado (The Dolphinfish). NGC 1566 is an intermediate spiral galaxy, meaning that while it does not have a well-defined bar-shaped region of stars at its center — like barred spirals — it is not quite an unbarred spiral

SERENDIPITYA little unexpected
FamiliarWeird

A CLOSER LOOK

This new Hubble image shows NGC 1566, a beautiful galaxy located approximately 40 million light-years away in the constellation of Dorado (The Dolphinfish). NGC 1566 is an intermediate spiral galaxy, meaning that while it does not have a well-defined bar-shaped region of stars at its center — like barred spirals — it is not quite an unbarred spiral either. The small but extremely bright nucleus of NGC 1566 is clearly visible in this image, a telltale sign of its membership of the Seyfert class of galaxies. The centers of such galaxies are very active and luminous, emitting strong bursts of radiation and potentially harboring supermassive black holes that are many millions of times the mass of the sun. NGC 1566 is not just any Seyfert galaxy; it is the second brightest Seyfert galaxy known.

Explore NASA's original image record for credits and available downloads.

FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE

NASA Image and Video LibraryGrand Swirls from NASA's Hubble

Original explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.