This image taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) shows a beautiful spiral galaxy called NGC 6744. At first glance, it resembles our Milky Way albeit larger, measuring more than 200,000 light-years across compared to 100,000 light-year diameter for our home galaxy.
NGC 6744 is similar to our home galaxy in more ways than one. Like the Milky Way, NGC 6744 has a prominent central region packed with old yellow stars. Moving away from the galactic core, one can see parts of the dusty spiral arms painted in shades of pink and blue; while the blue sites are full of young star clusters, the pink ones are regions of active star formation, indicating that the galaxy is still very lively.
In 2005, a supernova, named 2005at, was discovered within NGC 6744, adding to the argument of this galaxy’s liveliness (not visible in this image). SN 2005at is a type Ic supernova, formed when a massive star collapses in itself and loses its hydrogen envelope.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt
Release Date: July 23, 2018
#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #NGC6744 #Spiral #Pavo #SN2005at #Supernova #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education
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