Neighboring Irregular Galaxy ESO 174-1 in Centaurus | Hubble

Neighboring Irregular Galaxy ESO 174-1 in Centaurus | Hubble

The highly irregular galaxy ESO 174-1, which resembles a lonely, hazy cloud against a backdrop of bright stars, dominates this image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope. ESO 174-1 lies around 11 million light-years from Earth and consists of a bright cloud of stars and a faint, meandering tendril of dark gas and dust.

Image Description: A galaxy, large and occupying most of the view from the center. The whole galaxy is made of smooth, diffuse light. In the center it is brighter and bluer, fading to a pale grey halo that is faint and see-through. The light forms an arm on one side that curls around the top. A couple threads of dark dust cross the center. Many stars shine around the galaxy, on a black background.

This image is part of a collection of Hubble observations that aims to get to know our nearby galactic neighbors. To be more precise, the observations aim to resolve the brightest stars and basic properties of every known galaxy within 10 megaparsecs. A parsec is a unit used by astronomers to measure the vast distances to other galaxies—10 megaparsecs translates to 32 million light-years—and makes astronomical distances easier to handle. For example, the nearest star to the Sun, Proxima Centauri, is about 1.3 parsecs away. In everyday units this is a staggering 40 million million kilometers! 

The program to capture all of our neighboring galaxies was designed to use the 2-3% of Hubble time that absolutely no other observing program can use. Many of the myriad objects that Hubble observes can only be seen at certain times of year, which makes filling out the observatory’s schedule a daunting logistical challenge. Observing programs, such as the one which captured ESO 174-1, help Hubble’s operators get the most out of every last minute of observing time.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, R. Tully

Release Date: June 26, 2023

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