NASA - Hubble Space Telescope patch.
April 30, 2015
The smudge of stars at the center of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is a galaxy known as UGC 5797. UGC 5797 is an emission line galaxy, meaning that it is currently undergoing active star formation. The result is a stellar population that is constantly being refurbished as massive bright blue stars form. Galaxies with prolific star formation are not only veiled in a blue tint, but are key to the continuation of a stellar cycle.
In this image UGC 5797 appears in front of a background of spiral galaxies. Spiral galaxies have copious amounts of dust and gas — the main ingredient for stars — and therefore often also belong to the class of emission line galaxies.
Hubble orbiting Earth
Spiral galaxies have disk-like shapes that drastically vary in appearance depending on the angle at which they are observed. The collection of spiral galaxies in this frame exhibits this attribute acutely: Some are viewed face-on, revealing the structure of the spiral arms, while the two in the bottom left are seen edge-on, appearing as plain streaks in the sky. There are many spiral galaxies, with varying colors and at different angles, sprinkled across this image — just take a look.
Notes for editors:
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.
For more information about Hubble Space Telescope, visit: http://www.spacetelescope.org and http://hubblesite.org
Image, Video, Text, Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement: Luca Limatola/Karl Hille.
Cheers, Orbiter.ch
